Tate & Lyle Ordered to Pay €25m to American Sugar Refining
30 Sep 2015 --- Tate & Lyle PLC has been ordered to pay €25m to American Sugar Refining following its sale of its sugar operations to the American firm in 2010. The judgment was handed down at the Commercial Court in London in the case brought by American Sugar Refining (ASR), in which it made a number of claims totalling around €54m in relation to its acquisition of Tate & Lyle’s EU Sugars business in September 2010 for a consideration of €285m.
This claim has been disclosed in Tate & Lyle’s Annual Report since 2012 and the expected announcement of this Judgement was highlighted in the Trading Statement on 29 July 2015.
The impact of the Judgment will be reported as an exceptional item within discontinued operations.
Tate & Lyle’s sugar business was sold in 2010 to the American firm due to changes in the market that meant that the sugar business was no longer central to the company’s strategy. It was, at the time, enjoying success with its Splenda artificial sweetener business, which was reaping two-thirds of its profits.
American Sugar promised to keep the production facilities and all jobs at the two plants in London, as well as one in Portugal. In 2007, ASR bought Tate & Lyle’s Canadian operations.
