Olam Int'l sees Africa as a future cash cow

Find out more plans as the company comes to business as usual with its new CFO.

According to OCBC Investment REsearch, Olam International Limited (Olam) recently held a luncheon for analysts to meet Shekhar Anantharaman who has just moved into a new and enhanced role as Executive Director – Finance and Business.

This development came after the resignation of CFO Krishnan Ravi Kumar, who is leaving for new opportunities outside the agri- commodity sector.

As part of Shekhar’s expanded role, he will lead the group’s overall strategy and new business development activities, as well as overseeing Olam’s corporate finance & accounts, and investor relations.

OCBC said they had the opportunity to meet with several members of Olam’s finance team, most of whom have been with Olam for many years.

Thus, OCBC believes that it should be “business as usual” for the company, where management remains confident of achieving its target of recording US$1b net profit by FY16.

Moreover, Olam added it is likely to focus its future growth on markets like Africa, but is understandably less keen on Europe at the moment, said OCBC.

More insight on share buybacks

According to OCBC, the Management also shared more insights on its share buyback scheme, which has a mandate to buy back up to 10% of its outstanding shares.

To date, Olam has bought back ~52.2m shares, or 2.1% of outstanding shares, after its last purchase of 4.7m shares at an average price of S$1.86 on 26 Jun.

Management revealed that it will continue to buy back shares as long as the implied return to existing shareholders is higher than the expected IRR of any new projects, said OCBC.

If you've been wondering whether SBR could work for your company — yes, probably.

A lot of the companies we partner with started as readers. They'd been following our coverage for a while, saw their own customers and competitors in it, and eventually asked the obvious question: could we do something with you? The answer is usually yes. The shape of it depends on what you're trying to do.

The options are broader than most people assume — thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. Some partners use one channel; most use a mix. We figure out the right combination by starting with your brief, not with our rate card.

So if the question has been on your mind, here's the easy way to ask it.

We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia