Tate & Lyle Sweetener Volumes Hit by Soft US Beverage Sector

4 Oct 2013 --- Tate & Lyle has issued a trading update for the six months ended 30 September 2013 ahead of the announcement of Half Year Results on Thursday 7 November 2013. The Group’s performance in the second quarter was broadly in line with expectations. Adjusted operating profit for the Group for the first half is expected to be slightly lower than the comparative period, largely driven by softness in the US beverage sector as a result of the cold spring and slow start to the summer which has affected sweetener volumes in both divisions.

In Speciality Food Ingredients, volume growth is expected to be in line with the wider speciality food ingredients market with strong volume growth in emerging markets and Europe, partially offset by slightly lower volumes in the US. “We saw strong demand for our texturant and fibre ingredients, particularly in Asia Pacific and Latin America, but softness in the US beverage sector held back volume growth across our higher margin speciality sweeteners. This, together with lower selling prices for SPLENDA Sucralose, is expected to result in operating profit in this division being broadly in line with the prior year period in constant currency,” the company reported.

Within Bulk Ingredients, operating profit is expected to be somewhat lower than the comparative period driven by lower US bulk liquid sweetener volumes. “During the second quarter, we largely mitigated the increased costs associated with poor end of season corn quality and resultant lower starch production yields, and the significant decrease in the corn price.”

In Speciality Food Ingredients, Tate & Lyle expects to deliver growth in volumes, sales and profits across all regions for the full year.

Within Bulk Ingredients, in North America the company expects solid demand for liquid sweeteners and stable demand for its other products. In Europe, lower corn prices are expected to more than offset the impact of lower sugar prices on isoglucose margins. “Consequently, we anticipate this division delivering a stronger performance during the second half than the same period last year, and full year profits to be more evenly distributed between the first and second half.”

“Our profits remain sensitive to fluctuations in foreign currency particularly the US dollar to sterling exchange rate. In addition, as usual, the outcome of the calendar year sweetener pricing rounds will influence performance in the final quarter of the financial year. Overall, we expect to deliver another year of profitable growth,” the report concluded.