Tate & Lyle Share News (TATE)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Bulk food ingredients maker Tate & Lyle PLC boosted its dividend Thursday after annual revenue grew in "solid" results despite profit suffering from restructuring costs.

For the year ended March, pretax profit narrowed 16% to GBP240 million from GBP286 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising 1.8% to GBP2.76 billion from GBP2.71 billion the year before.

Profit performance was hurt by GBP58 million in one-off costs associated with moves to simplify the business. This included a GBP43 million charge associated with its sale of its oats ingredients business.

Adjusted pretax profit - excluding exceptional items - widened 4.4% to GBP309 million from GBP296 million the year prior.

"I am encouraged by our progress over the past year," Tate & Lyle Chief Executive Officer Nick Hampton said. "The group delivered solid financial results, and we are starting to see real momentum from the three priorities I set out last year to sharpen the focus on our customers, accelerate portfolio development and simplify our business."

FTSE 250-listed Tate & Lyle proposed a 20.8 pence per share final dividend, up 2.5% from 20.3p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 2.4% to 29.4p from 28.7p the year before.

"In Food & Beverage Solutions top-line momentum continued with solid volume growth in North America and double-digit growth in Emerging Markets," Hampton added. "Sucralose performed particularly strongly. Primary Products did well to deliver steady volume in the face of challenging market conditions."

"Across the business, strong cost discipline helped offset higher-than-expected input costs and operational execution was excellent, particularly during the extreme cold weather in the US in early 2019", Hampton continued.

In financial 2020, Hampton said the firm expects "continuing progress in Food & Beverage Solutions and gains from productivity initiatives to offset both lower Sucralose profits and continued market challenges in Primary Products".

Shares in Tate & Lyle were 3.9% lower at 761.20 pence on Thursday.