Gem Diamonds' underlying core profit rises on higher sales

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March 17 (Reuters) - Miner Gem Diamonds Ltd said its underlying core earnings for the year rose 34.6 percent as it sold more diamonds at higher prices.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in the company rose as much as 3.5 percent in early trading on Tuesday on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) .

The miner said it expected diamond prices to start trending upwards in the second half of 2015.

Diamond prices were under pressure in the fourth quarter of 2014 due to a lack of liquidity, the company said.

Gem Diamonds said underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $104.2 million for the year ended Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) . 31 from $77.4 million a year earlier.

Revenue rose 27.3 percent to $270.9 million.

The company said in January that it sold 108,963 carats during the year at an average price of $2,540 per carat from the Letseng mine in Lesotho.

Gem Diamonds recovered five exceptional diamonds during the year, which together accounted for 13.8 percent of its total revenue.

The company also said the first tender of diamonds from its Ghaghoo mine in Botswana, held in February, achieved a price of $210 per carat.

Gem Diamonds shares were up 1.2 percent at 149.8 pence at 0824 GMT. (Reporting By Mamidipudi Soumithri in Bengaluru; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)