Tate & Lyle PLC (LON:TATE) saw its full-year profits surge by 85%, underpinned by a weaker pound and strong performances from both the food ingredients group’s divisions.
The FTSE 250-listed group posted pre-tax profits of £233mln for the year ended March 31, up from £126mln a year earlier, as sales rose by 17% to £2.75bn.
Tate said the weakness of sterling in the aftermath of last June’s Brexit vote boosted its adjusted pre-tax profit by £40mln compared with the previous year.
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At constant currency, the group’s pre-tax profit was still up 20%, helped by increased margins in both its divisions.
Javed Ahmed, Tate’s chief executive, said: "This has been a year of strong performance. Both business divisions delivered good profit growth, with Bulk Ingredients delivering particularly good results, driven by excellent commercial and manufacturing performance.
"Speciality Food Ingredients performed well delivering profit growth and margin expansion, and continued to strengthen its focus on commercial execution, particularly in North America where volume growth remains challenging.”
Confident of underlying progress in 2018
He added: “Turning to the outlook, we are confident that the Group will continue to make underlying progress in the 2018 financial year.”
The group declared an unchanged final dividend of 19.8p per share, giving a steady total full-year payout of 28.0p.
Net debt, however, was £18mln higher at £452mln, reflecting the £57mln adverse impact of foreign exchange translation.
In reaction to this, Tate shares were down 2.2%, or 17.5p at 772.5p in early trading.