Sucralose producer Tate & Lyle (sucraloseTATE) has cut profit guidance for the third time in a year as it suffers from low US volumes and low sweetener prices.
The firm said it now expects group profits for the full financial year to be “modestly” below the range stated in September 2014 of £230m-£245m.
The revised profits guidance is due to its bulk ingredients business performing below the prior year in three months ended 31 December 2014.
The division is performing below expectations due to the impact of lower US sweetener volumes, weakening EU sugar prices which affected bulk sweetener prices in Europe, and a sharp deterioration in ethanol margins near the end of the period.
Speciality Food Ingredients, excluding Splenda sucralose, performed in line with the company’s expectations, with volumes slightly ahead of the prior year period driven by solid growth in Europe and Asia Pacific.
Splenda also performed in line with the firm’s expectations, with volumes slightly lower than the corresponding period last year.
The company also announced it had completed the a review of global demand, supply and planning processes first announced in September 2014. The review found that “no material incremental capital investment is required beyond the already announced incremental capital expenditure which we expect to come on stream in the second half of the 2016 financial year”.
The review also found that improvements are needed to operating and supply chain planning capabilities and to the robustness of internal planning processes.
Tate & Lyle shares fell another 12% to 584.5p this morning, having been trading at 743p in September.
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