Olam records strong half-year growth, with ofi ingredients setting the pace
Sunny Verghese, CEO joins Olam's Agri board of directors alongside other key appointments. Pic: Olam
The Olam Group, has posted its latest half-year performance figures of $26.9 billion in revenue, up 9.1%, with the company’s ofi ingredients division leading the way for delivering renewed growth, writes Neill Barston.
Notably, the company’s agricultural interests remained the largest share of sales, accounting for $16.7 billion for the period, up by a modest 2.7% as the sector continues to faces international challenges stemming from global economic headwinds that have been negatively impacted by the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza that have had a distabilising impact
However, the business was encouraged by the results of ofi, which delivered revenues of $9.6 billion, up 24% year-on-year, as the demand for innovative market solutions, including within the snacks and confectionery sector, remains high on a global level.
As the business noted, it remains committed to its overall strategic goal of listing both ofi and Olam Agri, while concurrently exploring other strategic options to unlock value. According to the company, It will now consider both internal and external factors, such as business performance of all three operating groups, prevailing capital markets conditions and global macroeconomic developments as well as receiving all necessary regulatory approvals.
Olam Group Co-Founder and CEO, Sunny Verghese (pictured), said: “We delivered EBIT growth and steady PATMI in H1 2024 despite high interest rates and challenging market conditions. This reflects the collective resilience of the Group, including ofi and Olam Agri.
“We remain committed to executing our Re-organisation Plan to unlock value. We continue to evaluate all internal and external factors that would underpin the success of the proposed IPOs of ofi and Olam Agri, while exploring all other strategic options.”
CEO of ofi, A. Shekhar said that its integrated supply chains had in fact proved resilient despite external challenges that had seen market volatility within many of its international territories.
He commented: ““We are very pleased with our EBIT performance in H1 2024, which is testament to the huge strengths of our integrated supply chains, and also reflective of the ability to optimise our margins and returns for the significantly elevated levels of capital deployment and unprecedented levels of volatility across many of our markets this year. We are grateful for the continued support of our customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders, as we navigated these tough market conditions to consistently deliver an increasingly diversified portfolio of food ingredients and solutions, with enhanced levels of innovation and sustainability impact.
“The recent opening of a new and expanded customer solutions centre in Chicago and the launch of the refreshed sustainability strategy – ‘Choices for Change’ – are examples of our continuing investments to deepen our capabilities and enhance the differentiation that we can offer to our customers.
“While the commodity markets are, and may continue to remain volatile, ofi is well- positioned to support and add value to its customers and we remain cautiously optimistic of delivering our medium-term guidance of high single-digit adjusted EBIT growth.”
