Tate sweet on Splenda as profits lift 23pc

Strong growth of zero-calorie sweetener Splenda and other speciality food ingredients helped boost Tate & Lyle’s full-year profit 23 per cent, as the group gained from a move by consumers toward healthier foods.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Jun 2012, 07:00 BST

The London-based sweeteners and starches group reopened a second plant in March to meet demand for its sucralose Splenda while high sugar prices benefited its competing bulk sweeteners and it gained from growth in emerging markets.

Chief executive Javed Ahmed said yesterday the group saw steady growth across a number of its markets, including Asia and Latin America, and despite economic uncertainty and a step up in investment he expected further growth this year.

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“We expect to see progress on profits, and continue to see top line growth from our speciality food ingredient this year,” he said.

Mr Ahmed saw little improvement in the US economy where Tate makes around 70 per cent of its sales, with unemployment steady at around 8 per cent. The group has very little business in troubled eurozone nations such as Greece and Spain.

Mr Ahmed has focused on speciality products, such as sucralose and food ingredients, and away from bulk commodities since taking over in late 2009, selling the group’s sugar refining operations and its mothballed Fort Dodge ethanol plant in Iowa.

Analyst Dirk Van Vlaanderen at Tate house broker Jefferies said earnings were slightly ahead of forecasts due to more favourable financing costs, and expects little change to current forecasts.

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