Singapore's Olam Group skips final dividend even as profit jumps five-fold

Adds background on earnings from paragraph 2 onwards

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Singapore's Olam Group OLAG.SI reported a more than five-fold jump in annual profit on Friday, driven by strong performance across its businesses including Olam Agri, but said it would not pay a final dividend to conserve cash for restructuring.

Shares of the Singapore-based food and agri-business conglomerate were trading 4.6% lower in early trading at S$0.945, compared with a 0.9% decline in the FTSE Straits Times index .STI.

Olam, one of the world's biggest agricultural commodities traders, posted profit attributable of S$444.1 million ($351.34 million) for the year ended December 31, compared with S$86.4 million in the prior year.

The profit includes earnings from Olam's 64.57% stake in Olam Agri, which is being sold to Saudi Arabia's SALIC in two stages. The first stage, involving a 44.58% stake sale, is still awaiting approval from one jurisdiction where the company operates.

Meanwhile, the "Remaining Olam Group" segment, which comprises assets the company aims to divest and monetise over time, logged operating earnings of S$197.7 million, compared to a loss of S$151.5 million in the prior year.

The segment includes its joint ventures with the Republic of Gabon, and Rusmolco, its Russian dairy business.

Olam's food ingredients business, ofi, saw flat growth amid volatility in commodity prices.

The company flagged a stabilisation in market conditions for cocoa and coffee, ofi's key input materials, and maintained its forecast of high-single-digit growth in adjusted operating earnings over the medium-term.

Olam said last April that it would sharpen its focus on ofi by selling its other businesses and assets.

"The group is seeking to responsibly divest and monetise the 10 remaining assets and businesses of the Remaining Olam Group over time and progressively distribute the net proceeds to shareholders via special dividends," the company said.

The board, therefore, decided to withhold a final dividend in view of the ongoing restructuring and the pending sale of Olam Agri to SALIC, an agricultural and livestock investment firm.

Olam had declared a 2.0 Singapore cents per-share interim dividend in August, making fiscal 2025 payout its lowest annual dividend in at least 12 years, according to its dividend history webpage.

($1 = 1.2640 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Nichiket Sunil and John Biju in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona and Subhranshu Sahu)

((John.Biju@thomsonreuters.com; Nichiket.Sunil@thomsonreuters.com))