Tate & Lyle keeps full-year guidance unchanged

Tate & Lyle kept its outlook for the full year sweet after the company’s performance remained consistent with a strong first half across the last three months.

Bosses said the company had been able to rely on “solid growth” in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa to make up for a softer performance in Asia Pacific and Latin America.

They said that full-year guidance will remain unchanged for the year ending March 31.

“We continue to expect earnings per share growth in constant currency to be broadly flat to low-single digit,” the company said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Tate’s bosses said that on an adjusted basis, it showed a strong performance on operating profit.

“Sales in all regions were ahead of the comparative period as we continued to drive good price and mix management, with volume overall broadly in line,” they said.

The results come two years after chief executive Nick Hampton set out a four-year plan to cut costs by 100 million US dollars (£77 million) at the maker of Splenda sweeteners.

The former finance chief, and 20-year PepsiCo veteran, said that the business would focus its growth on three customer categories: Drinks, dairy, and the combined category of soups, sauces and dressings.

He laid out the plans after taking over from Javed Ahmed in April 2018.

On November 7 last year Tate & Lyle topped the FTSE 250’s biggest risers after it said that first-half profit was up 45% to £164 million “despite market challenges”.

Investors reacted less well on Thursday, sending shares down by 2.6p, or 0.3%, to 798.6p.