Tate & Lyle profit warning

UK food ingredients group Tate & Lyle has again warned that its annual profits will be lower than this time last year, when high commodity prices helped boost its returns.

The company says ‘strong co-product revenues’ during the ‘commodity price peak of summer 2008’ boosted the business last year. However, despite what it calls ‘an encouraging start’ to the current fiscal year, Tate & Lyle says it won’t match last year’s earnings.

“As expected, demand from food and beverage customers has proved resilient and we have continued to experience challenging conditions in EU sugar and industrial ingredients, says outgoing chief executive Iain Ferguson.“Against this backdrop, we have continued to take the actions necessary to strengthen the group’s balance sheet, reduce our costs and ensure that we are well positioned as markets improve.