British food ingredients maker Tate & Lyle reported lower full-year pretax profit on Thursday and said earnings per share growth will be broadly flat for 2020.
The company said statutory pretax profit fell 16% to £240 million (€271.8 million) for the year ended March 31, weighed down by higher costs and a weak performance at its primary products business which consists of high-volume sweeteners, industrial starches and fermentation products.
Analysts expected reported pretax profit of £292.4 million (€331.11 million), according to Refinitiv IBES.
The company reported an 11% drop in profit from primary products to £148 million.
New Categories
To counter a tough food and drink market, the provider of sweeteners and other ingredients has said last year it was looking to sharpen its focus on categories including drinks, dairy and soups, while simplifying its business and seeking more innovation, partnerships and acquisitions.
Tate & Lyle completed the sale of its oats ingredients business in March as it no longer meshed with the mainstream food categories on which it focuses, taking a charge of £43 million.
The company also took a £13-million restructuring charge as part of the simplification programme.
Tate & Lyle has been focusing more on speciality food ingredients such as artificial sweeteners and other products like starch, which carry higher margins than its much larger and more commoditised business of bulk ingredients.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
