6 November 2009 – Tate and Lyle announced pre-tax profits of £112 million in its H12009 results.
Javed Ahmed, Chief Executive, 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.
Mr Ahmed added: “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.”
The British sugar refiner announced a half-year dividend of 6.8 pence.
Report highlights include:
Financial performance
• Net debt reduced by 20% since 31 March 2009 to £987 million (11% before exchange translation).
• Free cash flow3 of £258 million.
• Adjusted operating profit down 1% at £148 million (16% in constant currency4)
5 up 10% (down 6% in constant currency)
• Adjusted operating profit from core value added food ingredients.
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share down 4% at 18.3p (14% in constant currency)
Operating performance
• Food & Industrial Ingredients, Americas reported higher profits from food ingredients, outweighed by lower industrial profits, reflecting weaker industrial starch and ethanol markets, and lower co-product income
• Food & Industrial Ingredients, Europe reported profits well ahead of the prior period, aided by lower corn costs
• The EU Sugar market remained challenging
• Sucralose sales increased by 15% in volume and by 9% in value in constant currency
• Underlying costs reduced by £16 million over the comparative period