(Adds details, CEO comment)
By Karen Rebelo
Sept 22 (Reuters) - British precious stones miner GemfieldsPlc swung to a full-year profit as revenue from the saleof emeralds and rubies more than tripled.
The company said it targeted producing 25-30 million caratsof emeralds and beryls in the current financial year.
Gemfields, which currently mines emeralds in Zambia andrubies in Mozambique, said on Monday it would look for "gemstoneopportunities" in Colombia and across Africa. It said last weekit would hunt for sapphires in Sri Lanka.
Gemfields, which also owns luxury jewellery retailerFaberge, produces about a fifth of the world's rough emeralds.
The company, through aggressive marketing and expansion, istrying to create a stable market for coloured stones - the sameway Anglo American Plc's De Beers has championeddiamonds from London's Bond Street to China.
Gemfields' shares rose as much as 7 percent after thecompany reported a pretax profit of $36.3 million for the yearended June 30. It had posted a pretax loss of $20.1 million ayear earlier.
Despite lower production and lower grades, the London-listedminer's revenue jumped to $160.1 million from $48.4 million ayear earlier. Revenue from its first ruby auction this yeargenerated about $33.5 million.
Production fell by about a third to 20.2 million carats ofemeralds and beryls.
Chief Executive Ian Harebottle said the company kept ayear's supply of gemstones as stockpile, which helped offsetlower grades and lower production.
He said there was increased demand in the United States andEurope, while demand from India was stable.
"If you look at Indian weddings on the media, you will seemore and more emeralds not just on the ladies on the frontcovers but the men as well," Harebottle said.
Gemfields also said it planned to produce about 8 millioncarats of rubies and corundums in the financial year.
Shares in the company were up 5.6 percent at 51.75 pence onthe London Stock Exchange at 1227 GMT. (Reporting by Karen Rebelo in Bangalore; Editing by GopakumarWarrier and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)