Leading food and agri-business supplier Olam International says it is monitoring the coronavirus threat closely and “adhering to guidelines from all relevant international organisations and national authorities in affected areas.”
The impact of the global outbreak was not a factor in its financial statement for 2019, which showed a positive set of fourth quarter results with net profit quadrupling to $313.4m, and 219% growth for the period, at $229.7m. Its commodities, including cocoa, helped stimulate earnings.
Olam said it made net exceptional gains of $83.7m for the quarter versus $3.3m a year ago due to one-off gains from the divestments of de-prioritised assets.
Quarterly Ebitda, (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation), grew 49.2% to $493.3m due to a higher contribution from the confectionery and beverage ingredients, food staples and packaged foods, and industrial raw materials, infrastructure and logistics segments.
Improved operational performance
Olam’s co-founder and group CEO, Sunny Verghese said: “We are pleased to have successfully completed the first year of our 2019-2024 Strategic Plan with all-round improved operational performance, execution of strategic initiatives and release of cash from targeted divestments. Building on our new Strategic Plan, we recently announced our plan to re-organise Olam into two new coherent operating groups – Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) and Olam Global Agri (OGA) to unlock and maximise the Company’s long-term value.
“Olam International, as the parent company of OFI and OGA, will play a key role in unlocking the full value of the Olam Group by providing stewardship to the new operating groups and building future growth engines.”
Verghese said it will continue to monitor and mitigate the impact from the COVID-19 [coronavirus] outbreak. “We are confident that we have strong foundations in place to weather any short-term volatility and accelerate profitable growth in line with key consumer trends and market opportunities.”
