Tate & Lyle full-year profit drops by two-thirds

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated: 04:34 EST, 28 May 2009

Sugar and sweeteners company Tate & Lyle has reported a 67 per cent fall in full-year profit as the company booked several exceptional charges on its US operations.

For the year ending March 31, the company reported a net profit of £65million ($103 illion), down from £194million in the previous year.

Revenue rose 24 per cent to £3.55billion.

Exceptional charges and costs included £28million for expanding Tate & Lyle's ethanol plant in Loudon, Tennessee; £97million for mothballing a sucralose plant in McIntosh, Alabama; £24million from a dispute with a supplier about ethanol dehydration equipment at the Loudon and Fort Dodge, Iowa plants; and a loss of £24million on its discontinued International Sugar Trading and Eastern Sugar businesses.

Not so sweet: Tate & Lyle has reported a 67 per cent drop in profits

The global recession and its impact on customer demand make the outlook for this year uncertain, the company said.

'Market conditions over the past few months have proved challenging, but our focus on the food and beverage sector, which comprises over 70 percent of our total sales, gives us a measure of resilience, although not immunity, to the economic downturn,' said Ian Ferguson, the company's chief executive.