The Ekati diamond mine.
Dominion Diamond Corp. says it had a $500.2-million net profit attributable to shareholders in its fiscal first quarter, which included the sale of its Harry Winston luxury jewellery retail business.
The profit amounted to $5.89 per share, up from 14 cents per share or $11.6-million a year earlier.
The improvement was from a $497.6-million gain on the sale of Harry Winston, which offset a lower profit at Dominion Diamond's continuing operations, which include a stake in the Diavik mine in Northwest Territories.
Dominion Diamond, which adopted its new name as a result of its return to a pure mining company, also closed the $553-million cash purchase of BHP Billiton's majority stake in the Ekati mine in the Northwest Territories during the quarter.
Its net profit from continuing operations attributable to shareholders was $2.8-million or three cents per share, down from $6.0-million or 7 cents per share in the comparable quarter of the prior year.