LONDON (Alliance News) - PureCircle Ltd on Tuesday reported a dip in annual pretax profit, but a rise on an adjusted basis, while saying its long-time chairman, Paul Selway-Swift, will retire from the board.
The Stevia sweeteners maker also said that it has filed a patent infringement case in the US District Court for the Central District of California against California based SweeGen Inc and Photo Tech Corp, doing business as Blue California.
The case claims that SweeGen's and Blue California's "Bestevia" products are infringing PureCircle's patent: U.S. Patent No. 9,243,273, "Method for Making Rebaudioside X." Rebaudioside X is a sweetener derived from the stevia plant.
Swift, who has been chairman since 2007, will retire at the conclusion of the company's annual general meeting scheduled on November 30.
PureCircle will appoint John Slosar as chairman, subject to Slosar being re-elected by shareholders as director at the forthcoming annual meeting. Slosar is currently chairman and director of Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd and a director of Air China Ltd.
The company also appointed Rosemarie Andolino and Ann Marie Scichili as independent non-executive directors, effective Wednesday.
For the year ended June 30, PureCircle recorded pretax profit of USD7.5 million, down from USD7.7 million the year before, on revenue of USD131.1 million and USD118.9 million, respectively.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation grew to USD28.8 million from USD27.1 million.
The growth in adjusted earnings and revenue was attributed to sales growth, recovery in North American and sustained margins despite challenging conditions. The fall in reported profit was due to higher administrative costs, which totalled USD34.8 million versus USD31.3 million.
"We expect strong growth, however, this growth may not be linear as products incorporating stevia move from innovation to base-line products. We are moving forwards, stronger, are excited about the year ahead, and look forward to the future with confidence," said Chief Executive Magomet Malsagov.
Shares in PureCircle were up 1.3% higher at 316.09 pence each on Tuesday morning.
