Business brief | Gemfields slips, Bell lifts and Aston Martin poaches Bentley's boss

In a slower day for corporate news, precious stones group Gemfields slipped after taking a hit from lower platinum group metal prices. Bell Equipment pleased the market with its trading update, while in international news, Vietnam's VinFast has recalled almost 6 000 vehicles.

Ruby and emerald producer Gemfields, which also owns Fabergé, warned shareholders to expect a headline loss per share of 16c in its year to end December, from earnings of 78.3c previously, hit by a hefty writedown of Sedibelo Resources, a South African platinum group metals mining company. SA PGM miners have been grappling with a downturn in prices for the metals, but total auction revenues in 2023 were still the second-highest in the group's history and indicated that the demand for coloured gemstones remains strong, it said. "In what has been a year of both achievements and challenges, Gemfields recorded its second-highest annual revenues alongside seeing record prices being paid for our rough coloured gemstones sold at auction," CEO Sean Gilbertson said. Gemfields had lost 3% on Friday afternoon and has fallen by about a fifth over the past year.