LONDON (Alliance News) - Stevia ingredients producer PureCircle Ltd on Monday said it is planning to move to the London Stock Exchange's Main Market as it posted higher profit and revenue for the year to the end of June.
The company said it is planning to apply for a listing on the Main Market in a bid to raise its investor profile and give it access to a broader spectrum of investors. It does not intend to raise any further funds through the listing change and said the move is expected to occur by October 26 at the latest.
The move came as PureCircle published its results for the year to the end of June, which saw is net pretax profit rise 78% to USD4.1 million from USD2.3 million, thanks to its revenue rising 26% to USD127.4 million from USD101.0 million.
PureCircle said its sales were higher across all regional operations in the year, driven by an acceleration of markets adopting Stevia products. Sales for the year were dragged back by currency weakness, particularly the euro and the Mexican peso, against the dollar.
The company also said on Monday that William Mitchell, its chief financial officer, will leave the company at the end of September 2016. He will remain with the company during that time to help with the transition to his successor.
"Mainstream market adoption of stevia continues to develop as consumers and food and beverage producers seek great tasting sustainable natural solutions to help moderate calories in their product consumption," said Chairman Paul Selway-Swift.
"We remain confident in the future growth of the PureCircle Stevia 3.0 enabled market and that it will generate sustained sales growth for our business. We have therefore started to expand our production capacity to come on stream in 2017," Selway-Swift added.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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