Business
Interim Management Statement
Interim Management Statement.
About this update from Tate & Lyle Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n Interim Management Statement\n \n \n\n \n Tate & Lyle PLC\n \n \n\n \n \n \n 24 July 2014 – Tate & Lyle PLC\n \n \n INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT\n \n \n This Interim Management Statement covers the period from 1 April 2014 to \n 30 June 2014, which is the first quarter of the financial year.\n \n \n OPERATING PERFORMANCE\n \n \n The Group had a challenging first quarter as we dealt with the \n anticipated impact of the prolonged and severe winter in the US and also \n an unexpected shut down of our SPLENDA®1 Sucralose facility \n in Singapore. These factors, together with the adverse impact of the \n strength of sterling against the US dollar and other currencies, meant \n that Group adjusted2 operating profit for the first quarter \n was below our expectations. However, overall customer demand remains \n strong and we continue to expect that the Group’s results in constant \n currency for the financial year will be broadly in line with our \n expectations when we announced our full-year results in May 2014.\n \n \n As previously indicated, the first quarter started slowly in the US \n following the prolonged and severe winter which caused operational \n difficulties at the corn plants and led us to enter the current \n financial year with much lower inventories than usual. Although the \n impact on Bulk Ingredients was less than originally anticipated, it was \n greater on Speciality Food Ingredients, as we had to balance production \n to best meet our customers’ needs. Inventories continue to re-build and \n are expected to return to more normal levels in the current quarter.\n \n \n In Speciality Food Ingredients, we once again delivered good volume \n growth in the emerging markets although overall growth was held back by \n the US where, despite firm demand, volumes were only marginally ahead of \n the comparable period as a result of the supply constraints. The £100 \n million investment programme announced in May will provide greater \n flexibility to mitigate this kind of issue in the future.\n \n \n Volumes for SPLENDA® Sucralose in the quarter were slightly \n lower than we expected predominantly due to a change in a large \n customer’s order pattern. Overall, the sucralose market continues to be \n competitive and dynamic with the pressure on pricing in line with our \n expectations.\n \n \...