Tate & Lyle Reports Strong Rise in Year Profits

In Speciality Food Ingredients, sales increased by 2% (2% in constant currency) to £805 million (2010 – £788 million) with sales volumes up by 7%.

5/27/2011 --- Tate & Lyle performed well in the year achieving steady volume growth across a number of its markets, very strong returns from co-products and lower sucralose manufacturing costs. Sales for the year were £2,720 million (2010 – £2,533 million), an increase of 7% (5% in constant currency) on the prior year.

In Speciality Food Ingredients, sales increased by 2% (2% in constant currency) to £805 million (2010 – £788 million) with sales volumes up by 7%. The rate of sales growth was impacted by reduced selling prices for SPLENDA Sucralose reflecting the company strategy of securing long-term volume incentive contracts with customers.

Within Bulk Ingredients, sales increased by 10% (7% in constant currency) to £1,915 million (2010 – £1,745 million). Adjusted operating profit increased by 20% (17% in constant currency) to £321 million (2010 – £268 million).

In Speciality Food Ingredients, adjusted operating profit increased by 26% (25% in constant currency) to £206 million (2010 – £163 million), driven by increased sales volumes, operational leverage, improved product mix and lower SPLENDA Sucralose manufacturing costs.

The effect of exchange translation was to increase adjusted operating profit by £2 million. In Bulk Ingredients, adjusted operating profit increased by 15% (11% in constant currency) to £157 million (2010 – £136 million), driven by volume growth, very strong returns from co-products and an improved performance from ethanol offset by lower margins in sweeteners and industrial starches.

Higher corn prices, particularly in the second half of the year, resulted in an additional £16 million of coproduct returns compared to the prior year. The effect of exchange translation was to increase adjusted operating profit by £5 million.

Javed Ahmed, Chief Executive, said: “Tate & Lyle performed well in the year achieving steady growth across a number of our markets. In Speciality Food Ingredients, we delivered strong profit growth driven by increased sales volumes across the product portfolio, improved product mix and lower sucralose manufacturing costs. In Bulk Ingredients, we experienced good volume growth from sweeteners and very strong returns from co-products due to high corn prices. The Board is proposing an increase in the final dividend reflecting its confidence in the business.”