Highlights
- Speciality Food Ingredients sales up 4% (up 4% in constant currency) at £983 million with adjusted operating profit in line with the prior year (up 1% in constant currency) at £213 million:
- Continued strong growth in Asia and Latin America
- Acquisition of Biovelop, and in China, the formation of Tate & Lyle Howbetter and agreement to acquire Winway Biotechnology
- Bulk Ingredients adjusted operating profit 5% lower (4% lower in constant currency) at £172 million due to soft beverage season and unusually cold and prolonged winter in the US
- Adjusted profit before tax 2% lower (flat in constant currency) at £322 million
- Balance sheet remains strong with reduction in net debt of £126 million to £353 million (2013 £479 million)
- Final dividend of 19.8p proposed making a total dividend of 27.6p (2013 26.2p) up 5.3% on prior year
- Successful deployment of upgraded IS/IT platform across Europe with US and Singapore on track for the summer
- Board approval of capital investment of £100 million over the next two years in Speciality Food Ingredients to expand capacity for existing and pipeline products
