Tate & Lyle profit and volumes ahead

26-Jul-2017 - Last updated on 27-Jul-2017 at 13:34 GMT

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Specialty ingredient supplier Tate & Lyle says it has made “an encouraging start” to the year with profit volume ahead in both its divisions, speciality food ingredients and bulk ingredients.

Profit in constant currency was ahead of the comparative period, it said.

In a soft North American food and beverage market, the London-listed company said it saw modest volume growth with firmer volume from some larger customers.

Other global regions - Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific (APAC) and Latin America – all delivered strong volume growth, it said.

“Overall, we continue to expect that the group will make underlying progress in the full year,” read a statement issued by the company.

For the last financial year, Tate & Lyle reported an 85% increase in profit before tax thanks to higher sales, a weak pound and fewer exceptional costs.

In the 12-month trading period ending 31 March 2017, its total sales increased by 17%, to £2.8 billion (€3.2bn) with pre -tax profit almost doubling from £126m (€144m) to £233m (€267)

The company’s chief executive, Javed Ahmed, called it a year of strong performance with both business divisions delivering good profit growth.