Hot stock: Olam hits 10-month low after posting 89% drop in H1 profit

SHARES of mainboard-listed Olam Group reached a 10-month low on Monday (Aug 14) after the group posted an 89 per cent decline in first-half net profit to S$48 million.

The counter fell as much as 7.6 per cent or S$0.10 to a low of S$1.21 as at 9.44 am. The last time Olam’s shares closed near this level was on Oct 14, 2022.

By 2.21 pm, the agri-food giant’s shares were trading 6.1 per cent or S$0.08 lower at S$1.23, with around nine million shares changing hands.

On Friday, the group attributed the drop in net profit to a one-off exceptional loss on lower almond yields in Australia, which brought the group’s net exceptional loss to S$136.1 million. The group’s net interest costs were also significantly higher at S$245.9 million.

Contributions from Olam Agri were lower after the group sold a 35.4 per cent stake in the business.

Meanwhile, revenue slid 13.2 per cent to S$24.7 billion. By segment, revenue of the group’s food ingredients unit OFI dropped 5.1 per cent to S$7.7 billion on lower volumes, partially offset by pricing growth in ingredients and solutions.