Russia’s giant diamond producer Alrosa passed a resolution to refrain from paying dividends for 2008 at its annual general meeting of shareholders. The company announced that the decision came in the wake of the sharp decrease in the company’s net profit.

The company reported that net profits amounted to 1.574 billion rubles ($50 million) in 2008, a decrease from 14.1 billion rubles ($452 million) in 2007.

At the AGM, the diamond company decided to spend 1.475 billion rubles ($47 million) of its net profit for 2008 on capital investments. The sum of 19.5 million rubles ($626,000) will be allocated for long-term investments while 78.7 million rubles (2 million) will be transferred to the company’s reserve fund.

In 2007, the diamond company paid out 11,200 rubles ($360) per share, or a total of 2.240 billion rubles ($72 million), in dividends.