(Alliance News) - PureCircle Ltd on Wednesday said it saw a decline in earnings in its most recently ended financial year as it switched to its next generation stevia product.
The producer of stevia sweeteners said it expects to report sales of USD125 million and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization slightly below the current range of expectations for the year to the end of June.
In financial 2018, PureCircle delivered revenue of USD131.1 million and adjusted Ebitda of USD28.8 million.
The company said its recently ended financial year was a "transitional" one, with the launch of the latest and "best tasting" stevia product, Reb M.
PureCircle's new strategy is focused on launch of its next generation stevia, Reb M, which is off to a good start with many beverage and food products already in the markets of US and Europe with favourable feedback from consumers. Therefore, demand for the company' early generation Stevia products has fallen, it said.
In some cases, customer product launches have been rescheduled to a later date, PureCircle noted, which has moved the company's supply of products to them into new financial year, rather than the second half of financial year 2019 as had initially been anticipated.
"PureCircle is committed to delivering the best tasting stevia products to the food and beverage industry worldwide and our innovative new product, Reb M, has been developed in line with this mission," said Chief Executive Maga Malsagov.
"Naturally, it is disappointing that some new reformulated product launches have shifted to the next financial year, but our agenda is focused on mid to long-term and our strong project pipeline emphasises that PureCircle has the right product portfolio to capitalise on the growing demand for great tasting stevia products globally," added Malsagov.
PureCircle shares were trading 4.5% lower on Wednesday at 235.60 pence each in London.
