OLAM Group on Friday (Aug 12) reported a net profit of S$429.1 million for the first half of the fiscal year ended June 2022, up a marginal 1.8 per cent from S$421.5 million in H1 2021 as higher finance costs partly offset strong Ebit (earnings before interest and tax) growth for the period. Revenue for H1 2022 rose 24.6 per cent on year to S$28.4 billion from S$22.8 billion the previous year, as the group recorded higher prices across several of its products and commodities. Finance costs, however, expanded 36.7 per cent to S$327.3 million from S$239.4 million previously. Olam attributed this to a high interest rate environment, taxes and higher one-off exceptional charges related to its recent re-organisation. Excluding exceptional items, operational profit after tax and non-controlling interest (Patmi) was S$472.5 million, up 8.2 per cent from the previous year. Olam's board has declared an interim dividend of 4 Singapore cents per share, unchanged from a year ago.