Short-seller Carson Block’s charge that Olam (OLAM) International Ltd. will fail, his first attack on a Singapore company, is a victory for shareholders after it made the commodity trader more responsive to investors.
“We have listened to our fiercest critics as well as our most ardent advocates,” Olam Chief Executive Officer Sunny Verghese said today at the company’s annual business review, its first since Block questioned Olam’s finances in November.
Olam will slash capital spending by around S$1 billion ($808 million) from fiscal 2014 to 2016 and sell assets to reduce debt, the world’s second-largest rice trader said at the review. The company also dropped its $1 billion earnings target for 2016. Full story
