Tate & Lyle, the starches and sugars group, is likely to announce write-offs of about £75m in connection with the planned sale of Western Sugar when it reports interim results on Thursday, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The company's profits have been severely affected by overcapacity and price cutting in the US sugar market. Tate is currently in talks to sell Western, a sugar beet processing business, to the Rocky Mountain Sugar Co-operative, a group of over 1,000 farmers who grow the sugar beet Western processes. The sale is likely to result in a £50m loss against the asset value of about £100m, and Tate will suffer a £25m goodwill write-off as well.
