Outlining the company’s financial and non-financial performance for the year the report states that Olam has successfully navigated the pandemic to emerge stronger, delivering robust operational financial performance in 2020 with a strong execution of the Group’s Strategic Plan to drive sustainable growth.
Olam also said it has made significant progress on its Re-organisation Plan to ‘unlock and maximise long-term sustainable value via carve-out, IPO and concurrent demerger of Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) and pursue similar strategic options for Olam Global Agri (OGA)’.
In the financial section of the report the business said it had delivered strong results in the previous 12 months, with overall annual revenues across the company up 8.6%, totalling $35.8bn, including $12.5bn for its food division, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Sunny Verghese, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Olam, said: “2020 was one of our strongest years on record as we delivered operational earnings growth of 36.0% to S$677.8m even as we contended with the COVID-19 pandemic. We also made significant progress on our transformational Re-organisation Plan to unlock and illuminate the current value of our business and develop new strategic pathways that drive sustainable growth for the Group.
“As a new standalone operating group, OGA is uniquely positioned to meet the growing demand for food staples and feed across high-growth emerging markets. In the past year, our Rice brand distribution business broke records, our integrated flour and pasta manufacturing business became Nigeria’s leading pasta provider, and we are meeting the need for more traceable, sustainable agricultural commodities through platforms and initiatives like AtSource and the Sustainable Rice Platform.”
Cocoa Compass
Olam claimed that is has achieved a significant milestone for its in-house sustainability programme, Cocoa Compass, with 100% traceability of directly sourced cocoa across its global supply chain tracking 12% of world’s cocoa beans back to an individual farm or community.
A Shekhar, Chief Executive Officer of OFI, said: “OFI’s first year as a separate operating group was a truly exciting one as we overcame the challenges posed by the pandemic in H1 and delivered resilient all-round performance in H2. We also continued to invest in attractive growth segments like our acquisition of a leading US based chilli pepper business, as well as greenfield investments for manufacturing soluble coffee in Brazil and Dairy ingredients in New Zealand.
“OFI’s ‘on-trend’ value-added portfolio allows us to offer our customers more choices, including sustainably sourced and traceable Food & Beverage ingredients, as well as innovative end-use application solutions.
“We are also reaching new customers by expanding our capabilities in targeted end-use categories like Bakery, Confectionery, Beverages, Snacks and Culinary. We remain excited and optimistic about the future growth prospects for OFI as we progress towards the proposed carve-out and concurrent demerger and listing by H1 2022.”
Olam also announced it will hold its 26th Annual General Meeting on 23 April, 2021.