Pearl Company Raises A$4.3 Million

The investment is down on the A$9.8 million raised in 2007, but the CEO of the Australian company Andrew Hewitt said it was a reasonable result in the current climate.

"With less shell allocated to our MIS this year, there is more company shell for Arafura Pearls to put into production in its own right," he said.

"There were a number of factors outside the company's control, which lowered sales this year, including the lack of certainty surrounding the non-forestry MIS sector and the difficult prevailing financial markets.

"IMportantly, the underlying pearl farming business continues to operate well.

"We are currently experiencing record results out of our hatchery and shell grow-out and looking forward to our eighth pearl harvest in the second half of this calendar year.

"The MIS programmes have been used partially to finance Arafura Pearl's expansion towards becoming Australia's second largest producer of South Sea pearls.

"With this year being potentially our last retail MIS, we have identified other innovative ways of financing our expansion towards this goal."

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