(Adds details on sales, outlook, background)
July 23 (Reuters) - Food ingredients maker Tate & Lyle Plc
said on Thursday demand improved in June compared to
the previous two months as coronavirus restrictions eased and
more restaurants, bars, cinemas and other public facilities
opened.
Tate & Lyle said demand started to recover sequentially
during the quarter as some U.S. states began to ease lockdown
restrictions.
Remaining cautious, the company said the full extent of the
pandemic's impact still remained unclear.
Tate & Lyle's tone is in line with the world's largest soda
maker Coca-Cola Co, which said earlier this week demand
for its beverages was improving after reporting a 28% slump in
sales in the "most challenging" quarter of the year.
The British company, one of the world's biggest producers of
sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup, posted a 5% drop
year-on-year in revenue growth for the three months ended June
30.
Revenue at its primary products division, which makes
high-volume sweeteners and industrial starches, fell 9% to 420
million pounds ($535.21 million), with North American bulk
sweetener volume 12% lower reflecting fewer people eating
outside their homes.
($1 = 0.7847 pounds)
(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi
Aich)