Global food and agri-business Olam International Limited today launched its 2019 Annual Report, which outlines how the Company has:
- Delivered strong financial performance, on-track for Year One of its refreshed six-year Strategic Plan
- Re-organised into two new distinct operating groups that will further unlock value
- Continued to live out its Purpose of Re-imagining Global Agriculture and Food Systems
Sunny Verghese, Olam’s Co-Founder and Group CEO, said: “We ended Year One of our Strategic Plan on a strong note having executed well, meeting or exceeding most goals and targets for 2019. Coupled with the re-organisation of Olam, this has put us in the best possible position to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in which our priority is ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our staff while working with stakeholders to ensure supplies continue with as little interruption as possible. With Olam’s role at the centre of delivering food, feed and fibre to the world, living our Purpose of ‘Re-imagining Global Agriculture and Food Systems’ has never been more critical.”
A.Shekhar, Chief Executive Officer of Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), said: “The re-organisation of Olam, building on our Strategic Plan, enables us to unlock intrinsic value in our portfolio. At OFI, we continue to work closely with customers to provide the tailored solutions they need, both today in these extraordinary times and in the future. Our unique value offerings – traceable, sustainable supply chains via AtSource, reliable logistics and innovative applications and ingredient solutions – are even more fundamental in helping our customers grow their businesses in the post-COVID-19 era.”
Key achievements in 2019 included:
Strong financial performance:
- EBITDA up 25.6% to S$1.55 billion
- PATMI up 62.2% to S$564.1 million
- Operational PATMI up 43.7% to S$498.2 million
- Positive Free Cash Flow to Equity of S$134.6 million
- Gearing at 1.38 times, well under the 2.0 times target
Continuing to execute on the four growth pathways and four enablers in first year of 2019-2024 Strategic Plan, including:
- Investing S$1.1 billion to strengthen businesses with high growth potential
- Divesting deprioritised assets and businesses, releasing cash of S$488.1 million
- Delivering US$70 million in operational efficiencies
Building on the Strategic Plan to unlock further intrinsic value; announced Re-organisation of Olam in January 2020 into two operating groups: Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) and Olam Global Agri (OGA), under one holding company Olam International (OIL)
Continuing to Re-imagine Global Agriculture and Food Systems, including:
- Securing the world’s first digital loan of US$350 million, supporting ongoing efforts towards digital transformation
- Securing a second sustainability KPI-linked loan for US$525 million
- More than 740,000 smallholders receiving sustainability support with over 50 customer and NGO partnerships for livelihoods alone
- Creating a new ‘Finance for Sustainability’ team, which will bring the rigour of finance and accounts to challenge, support and help embed sustainability initiatives – a first case study for the Olam Integrated Impact Statement is presented in the Annual Report.
Deferment of Annual General Meeting
Olam has deferred the Annual General Meeting (AGM) originally scheduled in April 2020 in light of the evolving COVID-19 situation across the world, the heightened safe distancing measures implemented by the Government of Singapore, and the safe distancing regulations.
Shareholders will be updated on the new date for the AGM after the alternative arrangements in relation to the conduct of general meetings are prescribed, the procedures for participation by Shareholders at the 2020 AGM have been revised accordingly, and the essential preparations required by the relevant government or regulatory authorities, have been put in place. When the new date of the 2020 AGM is determined, the Company will issue a notice of the AGM setting out the date and other requisite details together with a proxy form, and an announcement will be made on SGXNet.