Su-Raj Diamonds plans equity

Su-Raj Diamonds is planning an equity infusion of Rs 699 crores over five years for increasing

manufacturing capacities and its retail footprint in India. It’s looking to buy medium-sized companies that have a marketing presence in the branded jewelry market of the Middle East. Currently, exports account for 80 per cent of Su-Raj’s revenue, of which West Asia accounts for almost 70 per cent with the US and the UK contributing 30 per cent. The rest of the sales come from its retail subsidiary Forever Precious Jewellery and Diamonds.

Su-Raj’s retail business consists of six Forever Destination stores, jewelry brand Carbon and a concept partnership with the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group’s value format retail chain Big Bazaar for its shop-in-shop gold offering Navras. The company will open 7 to 10 Forever Destination stores through fiscal 2011. It expects retail contribution to grow to 50 per cent of the overall revenue in the course of the next four to five years.

For the quarter ended June, the company announced a net profit of Rs 23.4 crores, a 92.3 per cent increase over the corresponding quarter a year ago. Its revenue was at Rs 803.2 crores, an increase of 17 per cent.