Tate & Lyle profits ahead of expectations

Tate & Lyle said pre-tax profits for the 4 months to 31 January was marginally ahead of its expectations after a good performance from the Americas.

However, the sugar refiner and sweetener maker said the EU sugar market is expected to remain difficult but said news of beet production quota surrender demonstrates the determination of the EU Commission and the industry to ensure a positive outcome to the Sugar Regime reform.

The company expects outturn for its continuing operations in the second half to be similar to that of the first half.

The sugar giant issued three profit warnings last year, primarily due to the slower growth of its Splenda sweetener and high corn prices.

In a statement, the company said that the Food & Industrial Ingredients, Americas division continues to perform well and was somewhat ahead of our expectations with further strong performances from both value added food ingredients and commodity products.

In early morning trading today, shares were up 2.2% to 519½ pence. The shares fell 42% last year and were forced out of the blue-chip FTSE 100 late last year.

Analysts at Citigroup said risk on the fiscal 2008 delivery is now more weighted to the upside and we may see upward pressure on fiscal 2009 consensus as recent foreign exchange moves are passed through.

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