CaratDe Beers loses $188 million and points at a steady index
Anglo American's half-year accounts put De Beers revenue at $1.58 billion, down 19%, with an underlying loss of $188 million, 23% narrower. The realised price fell 32% to $105 a carat; unit costs fell 26% to $64.
§1Losing money more slowly.
De Beers spent the first half of 2026 losing money more slowly. Anglo American's interim results put the diamond unit's revenue at $1.58 billion, 19% lower year on year, with an underlying loss of $188 million that was 23% narrower than a year earlier and an underlying EBITDA loss of $113 million, 40% smaller. Sales volumes fell 20% across the six months. For a business absorbing the worst rough market in a generation, a smaller loss is the only good news on offer, and the company took it.
The price line is where the argument sits. The consolidated average realised price fell 32% to $105 a carat, pulled down both by a sales mix weighted toward lower-value goods and by a rough price index 16% below last year. Within the half, though, the index barely moved: 68 in the first quarter and 69 in the second. De Beers has been arguing since its July sight that prices have found their level, and these accounts are the first set of numbers that support the claim rather than the intention.
§2Costs did the work.
The cost side has done more work than the price side. Unit costs fell 26% to $64 a carat and capital expenditure dropped 33% to $115 million. Annual overheads are more than $100 million lighter than in 2024, and the two-year production pause at Venetia removes volume the market was never going to absorb. The trading division swung to $30 million of underlying EBITDA from a $260 million loss a year earlier, with margin at 2% against negative 16%. Synthetics kept pressure on the cheaper end of the book while stronger pricing for larger goods held the overall index steady.
De Beers has been arguing since its July sight that prices have found their level, and these accounts are the first set of numbers that support the claim rather than the intention.
§3The owner question.
What none of it settles is ownership. Anglo's chief executive said the sale is in its final and most challenging phase and declined to name a buyer, a day after Bloomberg reported that the Gareth Penny consortium would pay about $1 billion for the 85% stake. Anglo still guides to completion by the end of 2026. A buyer reading these accounts sees a business whose losses are shrinking on cost discipline, and whose revenue still rests on an index that has stopped falling for two quarters, which is not the same as one that has started rising.
The useful numbers in this set are not the losses but the 68 and the 69.
A rough price index that holds flat across two quarters is the precondition for everything else the trade wants, because a cutter cannot fund inventory that reprices underneath him and a sightholder cannot sign a contract against a falling book. De Beers bought that flat line by cutting prices to the market and taking roughly 25 buyers off the roster, which is an expensive way to earn stability. The half says the bleeding is controlled. It does not yet say anyone is selling more diamonds.
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