Tate & Lyle profits dip in first half

The company, which produces sweeteners and refines sugar, said that it had managed to reduce its net debt in the period by 20 per cent to £987 million and had cut costs by £16 million.

Tate & Lyle said that its free cash flow in the period was £258 million, while adjusted diluted earnings per share dropped by four per cent to 18.3 per cent.

The company said that its American food ingredients business had seen higher profits, but were outweighed by weaker industrial profits and co-product income.

In its Europe business reported profits were significantly higher than in the previous half thanks to lower corn costs. Despite this the Tate & Lyle said that the EU sugar market “remained challenging”.

Sales in Sucralose for the company increased by 15 per cent in volume and by nine per cent in value in constant currency.

Underlying costs at the company were reported as falling by £16 million in the half year period.

Tate & Lyle said that it was still on track to meet its expectations for the full year.

Javed Ahmed, Chief Executive of Tate & Lyle, said, “Tate & Lyle performed slightly ahead of our expectations in the first half of the year, before the impact of exchange translation, despite challenging conditions in a number of our markets. We are encouraged by the good progress made in reducing net debt, reflecting our focus on reducing costs, optimising working capital and reducing capital expenditure.”