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Operational and financial metrics⁽¹⁾

	Production volume	Sales volume	Price	Unit cost*	Group revenue*	Underlying EBITDA*	EBITDA margin(6)	Underlying EBIT*	Capex*	ROCE*
	’000 cts	’000 cts(2)	$/ct(3)	$/ct(4)	$m(5)	$m		$m	$m
De Beers	24,712	17,883	152	93	3,292	(25)	(1)%	(349)	536	(6)%
Prior period	31,865	24,682	147	71	4,267	72	2%	(252)	623	(3)%
Botswana	17,935	n/a	143	39	n/a	241	n/a	185	83	n/a
Prior period	24,700	—	168	31	—	412	—	349	74	—
Namibia	2,234	n/a	426	295	n/a	121	n/a	82	41	n/a
Prior period	2,327	—	515	246	—	159	—	123	35	—
South Africa	2,166	n/a	85	115	n/a	(54)	n/a	(126)	312	n/a
Prior period	2,004	—	109	97	—	26	—	5	403	—
Canada	2,377	n/a	79	56	n/a	45	n/a	11	63	n/a
Prior period	2,834	—	85	48	—	35	—	(6)	63	—
Trading	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	(50)	(3)%	(54)	1	n/a
Prior period	—	—	—	—	—	(104)	(3)%	(111)	2	—
Other(7)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	(328)	n/a	(447)	36	n/a
Prior period	—	—	—	—	—	(456)	—	(612)	46	—

⁽¹⁾ Prepared on a consolidated accounting basis, except for production, which is stated on a 100% basis except for the Gahcho Kué joint operation in Canada, which is on an attributable 51% basis.

⁽²⁾ Total sales volumes on a 100% basis were 19.4 million carats (2023: 27.4 million carats). Total sales volumes (100%) include De Beers Group’s joint arrangement partners’ 50% proportionate share of sales to entities outside De Beers Group from Diamond Trading Company Botswana and Namibia Diamond Trading Company.

⁽³⁾ Pricing for the mining businesses is based on 100% selling value post-aggregation of goods. Realised price includes the price impact of the sale of non-equity product and, as a result, is not directly comparable to the unit cost.

⁽⁴⁾ Unit cost is based on consolidated production and operating costs, excluding depreciation and operating special items, divided by carats recovered.

⁽⁵⁾ Includes rough diamond sales of $2.7billion (2023: $3.6 billion).

⁽⁶⁾ EBITDA margin on a total reported basis. On an equity basis, and excluding the impact of non-mining activities, third‑party sales, purchases, trading, brands and consumer markets and corporate, the adjusted EBITDA margin is 35% (2023: 48%).

⁽⁷⁾ Other includes Element Six, brands and consumer markets, and corporate.

Markets

Rough diamond trading conditions in 2024 continued to be very challenging in light of persistent higher than normal midstream inventory levels and the prolonged period of depressed consumer demand in China.

In the first quarter of 2024, the industry experienced signs of a recovery in demand for rough diamonds, in part due to the short-term impact of the voluntary moratorium on rough diamond imports into India at the end of 2023, coupled with improved demand following the holiday selling season in the United States. As the year progressed, consumer demand in China contracted further as economic challenges persisted with retailers in China (previously the second largest market globally for consumer sales of diamond jewellery) reducing stocks of polished diamonds, coupled with ongoing caution amongst US retailers. Consequently, midstream polished inventory levels increased sharply in the second quarter of 2024.

The seasonally slower third quarter saw this higher than normal inventory trend continue, resulting in lower demand for rough diamonds. In response, several producers postponed or cancelled sales events and offered greater purchasing flexibility. The fourth quarter saw midstream inventory levels plateau as the reduced rough supply had an impact and, in turn, polished prices began to stabilise at the end of the year.

Consumer demand for diamond jewellery globally in 2024 is estimated to have contracted 3-4% year-on-year. In the United States, accounting for just over 50% of diamond jewellery sales, demand is estimated to be down 2% year-on-year, driven by a decline in the first half of the year, while the second half demonstrated stabilisation remaining flat year-on-year.

Lab-grown diamond wholesale and retail prices continued to fall throughout 2024 as the bifurcation from natural diamonds progresses, with acceleration in the second half of the year. In the lead-up to the holiday season, a number of US retailers, including Lightbox, introduced deep discounts on lab-grown diamond jewellery amongst increased competition, with some retailers also including disclaimers for their customers that lab-grown diamonds may not hold their value over time. Falling lab-grown diamond retail prices have meant jewellery retailer financial incentives are increasingly shifting in favour of natural diamond jewellery. While there are positive signs that the impact of lab-grown diamonds on demand for natural diamonds is peaking, average lab-grown diamond retail prices do not yet fully reflect the fall in wholesale prices, so retail prices are expected to decline further. While a proportion of natural diamond demand continues to be affected in the near-term by lab-grown diamonds as a result of prevailing retail margins, such margins are expected to be unsustainable in light of increasing lab-grown diamond supply volumes, greater levels of competition, and growing consumer awareness of lab-grown diamond price trends.

Operational performance

Mining

The mining operations delivered steady operational performance, albeit at lower output levels as the business continued to reconfigure production in response to prevailing market conditions.

Rough diamond production was reduced by 22% to 24.7 million carats (2023: 31.9 million carats), reflecting a proactive production response to a prolonged period of lower demand and higher than normal levels of inventory in the midstream. De Beers continues to focus on managing working capital, and despite lower sales volumes, inventory has reduced slightly year-on-year through the careful management of production, purchases and downstream stocks.

In Botswana, production was reduced by 27% to 17.9 million carats (2023: 24.7 million carats), as a result of planned actions to lower production at Jwaneng.

Production in Namibia decreased by 4% to 2.2 million carats (2023: 2.3 million carats), reflecting intentional action to lower production at Debmarine Namibia, which was down 13% year-on-year, partially offset by planned higher grade mining and better recoveries at Namdeb.

In South Africa, production increased by 8% to 2.2 million carats (2023: 2.0 million carats), as Venetia underground progresses and further benefitting from a slight improvement in grades of processed ore. The output, however, remains low in comparison to historical production from the open-pit operation as the majority of the ore processed continues to be from existing surface stockpiles. This is expected to increase over the next few years as the underground project continues its ramp-up.

Production in Canada decreased by 16% to 2.4 million carats (2023: 2.8 million carats) due to the planned treatment of lower grade ore.

Financial performance

Difficult trading conditions resulted in a year-on-year reduction in revenue of 23% with total revenue of $3.3 billion (2023: $4.3 billion), primarily due to a 25% reduction in rough diamond sales to $2.7 billion (2023: $3.6 billion). Total rough diamond sales volumes decreased by 28% to 17.9 million carats (2023: 24.7 million carats). The average realised price, however, increased marginally by 3% to $152/ct (2023: $147/ct), reflecting a larger proportion of higher value rough diamonds being sold, offset by a 20% decrease in the average rough price index from 133 in 2023 to 107 in 2024.

The consequential impact of lower sales volumes, a lower average price index and higher unit costs resulted in an underlying EBITDA of $(25) million (2023: $72 million). The increase in unit cost to $93/ct (2023: $ 71/ct), is primarily driven by the decision to lower production volumes in response to the trading conditions.

Capital expenditure decreased by 14% to $536 million (2023: $623 million), predominantly due to cash preservation and optimisation initiatives. This includes the rephasing of Venetia underground life-extension and rationalisation of stay-in-business capex spend. The spend on the balance of the life-extension projects is consistent period-on-period and the projects remain on track.

An impairment of $2.9 billion (before tax and non-controlling interests) (2023: $1.6 billion) to Anglo American’s carrying value of De Beers has been recognised within special items and remeasurements, reflecting further near-term adverse macro-economic conditions and industry-specific challenges. Please refer to note 10 in the Condensed financial statements for further details.

On 3 February 2025, the Government of the Republic of Botswana and De Beers announced that they had successfully concluded negotiations focused on establishing a new 10-year sales agreement (through to 2035) for Debswana’s rough diamond production and extending Debswana’s mining licences by 25 years (through to 2054), with the terms being substantively aligned with the Heads of Terms agreed on 30 September 2023. Following the final governance approvals, both parties look forward to signing and executing the relevant agreements with the transaction finally completing when the new mining licences are issued by the appropriate regulatory authorities in Botswana. Until the completion of these new agreements, the terms of the existing agreements will continue to remain in effect.

Corporate strategy

De Beers communicated its new “Origins” strategy at the end of May, with a focus on four key pillars underpinned by a plan to streamline the business sustainably by reducing overhead costs by $100 million. These consist of i) focusing upstream investments on the major projects that will deliver the highest returns; ii) integrating the midstream to deliver greater efficiency; iii) resetting the downstream by reinvigorating category marketing and evolving proprietary brands through development of De Beers Jewellers into a leading high jewellery maison business and refocusing Forevermark on the fast-growing Indian market; and iv) pivoting synthetics, with Lightbox suspending production of lab-grown diamonds for jewellery and Element Six focusing on developing its position as a world-leading provider of synthetic diamond technology solutions.

De Beers continues to implement the relevant strategic initiatives and is on track to deliver the committed overhead cost savings through 2025.

Brands and consumer markets

New natural diamond marketing collaborations were established with world-leading diamond jewellery retailers: Signet in the US, Tanishq in India, and Chow Tai Fook in China. The collaborations focus on driving long-term desirability for natural diamonds in the three largest consumer countries for diamonds. The collaborations will also benefit from promotional messages being amplified through the wide reach of these leading retail businesses, as well as training retail jewellery consultants to better promote natural diamonds.

De Beers Jewellers delivered a consistent performance against the prior period despite the ongoing challenges in China. The business continues to create design-led pieces and high jewellery collections to encourage demand growth in a challenging market. Consistent with the strategy to focus the brand on India, Forevermark's global operations ramped down.

De Beers also announced the launch of DiamondProof™, a new device to be used on the jewellery retail counter for rapidly distinguishing between natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds. This device will support retailers in communicating the attributes of natural diamonds, providing customers with enhanced confidence in the authenticity of their natural diamond purchase and deterring undisclosed lab-grown diamonds from entering the natural supply chain.

Market outlook

Near-term market conditions are expected to remain challenging in 2025 as polished pull-through remains subdued and industry players continue to manage inventory levels. In the medium-term, production cuts announced by a number of producers coupled with stabilisation of demand in China and a normalisation of industry inventory levels are expected to result in modest rough price growth. Consumer demand and retailer re-stocking are expected to be supported by marketing for natural diamonds, with the long-term outlook for the natural diamond industry remaining favourable.

Diamond provenance has the potential to further reinforce demand for De Beers’ ethically-sourced natural rough diamonds. Tracr, the pioneering diamond traceability platform, is now listing a single country of origin for all newly registered De Beers-sourced diamonds over 0.5 carats in polished size, aligning with the size threshold for new diamond import requirements for G7 countries.

Lab-grown diamond wholesale prices continue to fall and have further room to do so until they converge with the marginal cost of production. Long-term retailer incentives associated with lab-grown diamonds are expected to diminish, supported by growing consumer awareness of the low production cost and relative abundance of lab-grown diamonds, reinforcing their positions as different products. As the economics of selling lab-grown diamonds become more challenging, there are signs that retailers in the US are returning their focus to natural diamonds and this trend is expected to continue.

Operational outlook

Given market challenges, the Venetia project is undergoing a rescoping exercise to optimise the capital and production profiles.

Production guidance for 2025 is 20–23 million carats (100% basis), reflecting the challenging rough diamond trading conditions. De Beers continues to monitor rough diamond trading conditions and will respond accordingly.

Production will then be increased steadily over the next two years to 28-31 million carats (100% basis) in 2027, as the business responds to the anticipated market recovery.

The 2025 unit cost guidance is c.$94/carat⁽¹⁾, marginally higher than the 2024 unit cost of $93/carat, reflecting the impact of the lower volumes partially offset by cost saving initiatives and the benefit of the slightly weaker South African rand guidance spot FX rate.

⁽¹⁾ Unit cost is based on De Beers’ proportionate consolidated share of costs and associated production. 2025 unit cost guidance was set at c.18.60 ZAR:USD.