London / UK. (tl) Tate + Lyle PLC, a leading global provider of speciality food ingredients and solutions, announced its results for the six months ended 30 September 2014. Key points:
- Group adjusted profit before tax 34 percent lower in constant currency at 104 million GBP (2013: 173 million GBP):
- Operational and supply chain disruption costs of 31 million GBP
- The effect of price erosion for «Splenda» Sucralose of 18 million GBP
- Group reported sales 21 percent lower at 1’200 million GBP (2013: 1’516 million GBP) largely due to:
- Pass through of lower corn prices and price erosion for «Splenda» Sucralose
- Adverse impact of the strength of sterling against the US Dollar and other currencies
- Speciality Food Ingredients adjusted operating profit 37 percent lower in constant currency at 66 million GBP (2013: 112 million GBP)
- Bulk Ingredients adjusted operating profit ten percent lower in constant currency at 76 million GBP (2013: 92 million GBP)
- 5.1 percent increase in interim dividend to 8.2 GBPence (2013: 7.8 GBPence)
- Appointment of Joan Braca as President, Speciality Food Ingredients
Chief Executive Javed Ahmed said: «As we announced on 23 September, the Group´s performance in the first half has been significantly held back by operational and supply chain disruption and an increasingly competitive market for «Splenda» Sucralose. Notwithstanding these factors, the fundamentals of our business are robust with particularly strong growth in the emerging markets for our Speciality Food Ingredients business excluding «Splenda» Sucralose, a high quality innovation pipeline and a resilient, cash generative Bulk Ingredients business. We are firmly focused on taking the necessary steps to work through the issues we face and improve the Group´s performance».
Outlook
The outlook for the full year to 31 March 2015 remains unchanged from our trading statement on 23 September 2014. For the second half, we expect Speciality Food Ingredients excluding «Splenda» Sucralose and Bulk Ingredients to continue to perform solidly, but this will be more than offset by a softer performance in «Splenda» Sucralose and additional supply chain costs. This, together with the first half performance, leads us to expect Group adjusted profit before tax for the full year to be in the range of 230 million GBP to 245 million GBP. As usual, performance in the final quarter of the financial year will be influenced by the outcome of the calendar year pricing round, and also assumes normal weather patterns.
