Press Release

H2 2022 Group Financial Highlights

2022 Group Financial Highlights

Management Comments on Consolidated Olam Group Performance and Outlook

Olam Group Co-Founder and CEO, Sunny Verghese, said: “We delivered operational PATMI of S$781.5 million against a strong prior year and saw revenue and EBIT growth in 2022, despite the challenging environment that we are operating in. Our discipline in executing our strategy has enabled us to ride industry tailwinds to deliver strong operating performance, with Olam Agri in particular, delivering another strong year.

“The Olam Group is now at the cusp of transformational growth as all three operating groups have been repositioned to tap into the growing demand in their respective sectors. In the year ahead, we expect both Olam Agri and ofi to continue their growth momentum, capitalising on industry trends, the reopening of economies and the easing of supply chain disruptions.

“As we prepare Olam Agri for its proposed dual-listing in Singapore and Saudi Arabia, we are also progressing with the rest of our Re-organisation Plan – the listing of ofi in London and Singapore, as well as developing new growth engines and reshaping our assets within the Remaining Group to focus on the future of sustainability and digitalisation to offer its own value proposition for investors and stakeholders.”

Olam Group CFO, N Muthukumar, said: “Even as the industry grappled with increased working capital needs due to higher commodity prices, we maintained discipline in our use of capital and reduced our gearing while generating strong operating cash flows.

“We will continue to explore sustainability-linked facilities aligned to our Purpose to fund our growth plans.”

Olam Group Financial Performance

Olam Group today reported steady 2022 performance against a strong prior year and a challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.

H2 2022

• Revenue increased 9.5% year-on-year (YoY).

• EBIT grew 2.2% to S$798.2 million.

• PATMI declined 24.5% to S$200.0 million as net finance costs doubled.

• Excluding exceptional items, Operational PATMI was down 42.2% to S$303.0 million.

2022

• PATMI declined 8.3% YoY to S$629.1 million against a strong prior year as EBIT growth was offset by significantly higher net finance costs and taxes.

• Excluding non-recurring exceptional items, Operational PATMI decreased by 18.7% to S$781.5 million.

• Revenue increased 16.8% YoY to S$54.9 billion largely due to higher prices across many products and commodities.

• EBIT grew 13.1% to S$1.6 billion mainly on the strong contribution by Remaining Olam Group and Olam Agri. Olam Agri contributed 53.3% of the Group’s total EBIT, while ofi and Remaining Olam Group contributed 46.4% and 0.3% respectively.

• The sale of the substantial minority stake in Olam Agri resulted in a net gain of S$1.2 billion recorded in capital reserves in the equity statement.

• Free Cash Flow to Equity (FCFE) swung to a positive S$1.9 billion (2021: -S$1.0 billion) on improved net operating cash flow, lower capital expenditure and divestment proceeds from sale of substantial minority stake in Olam Agri.

• Net gearing improved to 1.47 times compared to a year ago.

2022 Performance by Operating Group

ofi³

ofi is a global leader in ingredients at the forefront of food and beverage consumer trends offering sustainable, natural and plant-based ingredients and solutions for large, attractive and high growth end-use categories.

• Revenue grew strongly, up 15.3% to S$16.4 billion led by pricing growth across both segments.

• EBIT declined 9.0% to S$746.5 million, compared to a strong prior period. It was adversely impacted by the external events in 2022, in particular the sudden and significant spike in energy costs in H1 2022. In addition, there was an increase in depreciation and amortisation during the year due to recent acquisitions.

   

CEO of ofi, A. Shekhar said:  “Overall market conditions in 2022 were challenging. Starting off from a strong performance in 2021, the war in Ukraine led to significant macroeconomic uncertainty in many markets, elevated levels of inflation and difficulties across supply chains. Energy costs in particular reached record highs, adversely impacting our profitability on pre-sold customer contracts and contributing to the lower EBIT performance in 2022. We have worked tirelessly as an organisation and closely with our customers through the year to rebase the pricing of renewing contracts, which are now flowing through, with the expected lag, across our businesses.

Despite this uncertain macroeconomic backdrop we made good operational and strategic progress.  We continue to build momentum throughout the organisation, and we have made significant progress in refocusing our business around the needs of our customers, including a more streamlined and responsive approach to managing our customer relationships across business segments. In addition, we have added to our digital capabilities and innovation infrastructure, including customer solutions centres, where we work with our customers to co-create innovative new products from our ingredients, delivering exciting and value-added opportunities to them. Meanwhile, our ability to deliver products that are both sustainable and traceable continues to differentiate our broad portfolio and underpins our strong customer relationships. I would like to thank our employees for their continued hard work and commitment as we embrace this next stage of ofi’s evolution.”

Olam Agri⁴

Olam Agri is a market leading and differentiated global food, feed and fibre agri-business focused on high-growth emerging markets with a proven track record and delivering high growth, high capital efficiency and high returns.

• Strong 2022 performance against a record 2021 and despite geopolitical risks and macroeconomic volatility

• Revenue grew 18.0% to S$36.9 billion, driven mainly by higher commodity prices across the grains and oilseeds complex, as well as edible oils and cotton.

• EBIT grew 13.9% to S$857.7 million on higher contribution from the Processing & Value-added segment. This was partly offset by a reduction in contribution from the Fibre, Agri-industrials & Ag Services segment. Origination & Merchandising segment remained steady and performed as well as 2021 despite disruptions in grains and oilseeds flows from Russia and Ukraine.

Mr Verghese, who is CEO of Olam Agri, said:  “Olam Agri’s strong financial performance is testament to the operating group’s ability to deliver high growth, high capital efficiency and high returns against the backdrop of heightened geopolitical and macroeconomic risks. Global food security also remains a number one concern with many countries experiencing significant food price inflation. Through our global network and building on our recent partnership with SALIC, we are able to extract partnership synergies that are crucial to enhancing food security and capturing growth in new markets.”

Remaining Olam Group

The Remaining Olam Group businesses comprising Olam Global Holdco (gestating businesses and de-prioritised assets earmarked for exit), Olam Ventures (comprising technology and sustainability-led new ventures), and MindSprint (formerly known as Olam Technology and Business Services, comprising IT and digital services business).

• Revenue was up 6.4% on higher prices despite lower volumes post divestments and closures of de-prioritised assets.

• Significant turnaround in operating profits with EBIT delivery of S$4.5 million compared to a loss of S$151.0 million in 2021, in particular the continuing/gestating assets, as de-prioritised assets, and incubating businesses all performed better YoY.

Outlook and Prospects 

For 2023, the Group expects commodity prices and supply chain disruptions to ease from the highs of 2021/2022 although geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties are likely to persist.

ofi entered 2023 with good momentum; its actions to mitigate the external shocks of 2022 such as passing through inflationary costs are rolling through, supported also by the easing of recent supply chain disruptions.

Building on strong growth and outperformance in 2022, Olam Agri expects to capture the significant growth opportunity that exists in the market to further strengthen operating performance for 2023 while continuing to successfully navigate geopolitical and macroeconomic risks. The Strategic Supply and Cooperation agreement with strategic partner SALIC will also catalyse its growth in the Gulf region.

In view of the market uncertainties and high interest rates environment, the Group will continue its prudent and disciplined capital management strategy.

The Group expects to continue incurring one-off and non-recurring expenses associated with the execution of the Re-organisation Plan, including the planned listing(s) in 2023.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances or unfavourable geopolitical, macroeconomic and roll-back on reopening of borders by major economies, the Group is cautiously optimistic about its prospects for 2023.

These materials are not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia). These materials are not an offer of securities for sale into the United States, the United Kingdom, European Economic Area, Canada, Australia or Japan. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act), except pursuant to a registration statement or an applicable exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act. No public offering of securities is being made in the United States.

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¹ 2021 second interim dividend: 4.5 cents per share

² Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company

³ Consisting of the Cocoa, Coffee, Dairy, Nuts and Spices businesses, ofi is made up of two segments – Global Sourcing and Ingredients & Solutions. 

⁴ Consisting of Grains & Oilseeds, Freight, Integrated Feed & Protein, Edible Oils, Rice, Specialty Grains & Seeds, Cotton, Rubber, Wood Products and Funds Management. Olam Agri has three segments – Food & Feed - Origination & Merchandising; Food & Feed - Processing & Value-added; and Fibre, Agri-industrials & Ag Services.
 

Notes to Editors

This release should be read and understood only in conjunction with the full text of Olam Group Limited’s Second Half and Full Year ended December 31, 2022 Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis.

Re-organisation of Olam 

Olam Group has been re-organised into new operating groups ofi, Olam Agri and the Remaining Olam Group.

ofi is a global leader in ingredients at the forefront of food and beverage consumer trends offering sustainable, natural and plant-based ingredients and solutions and serving large, attractive and high growth end-use categories.

Olam Agri is a market leading and differentiated food, feed, and fibre global agri-business focused on high-growth emerging end-consumption markets to meet the rising demand for food staples, agri-industrials raw materials and the shift to protein-based diets in these countries.

The Remaining Olam Group is responsible for the divestment of non-core assets and businesses and the development of Rusmolco and our gestating businesses Olam Palm Gabon, Packaged Foods, and ARISE Ports & Logistics under Olam Global Holdco. It is also responsible for incubating new sustainability and digital platforms for growth (Olam Ventures) and providing shared services to the operating groups as well as building technology and business solutions to third party services (MindSprint, formerly known as Olam Technology and Business Services). 

H2 2022 and 2022 Financials for Olam Group Consolidated and Operating Groups