Tate & Lyle PLC - STATEMENT ON ENTERING CLOSE PERIOD - Apr 2015

Based on trading performance for the fourth quarter there is no change from the guidance in our trading statement on 6 February 2015. We continue to expect Group adjusted profit before tax for the year ended 31 March 2015 to be modestly below the range stated in September 2014 of £230 to £245 million¹.

As expected, for the full year, Group adjusted operating profit has been held back by the impact of the operational and supply chain issues experienced mainly in the first half, and the continued extremely competitive market for SPLENDA^® Sucralose.

We expect net debt at 31 March 2015 to be around £500 million, higher than reported at 31 December 2014 (£466 million), principally due to investment in working capital as we continue to rebuild inventories and an exchange translation impact of around £20 million following further strengthening of the US dollar.

As planned, the project to evaluate how best to maximise returns from SPLENDA^® Sucralose is reaching conclusion and will be finalised with the Board during April. We expect to communicate the outcome in the next few weeks.

On 24 February 2015 we launched DOLCIA PRIMA^TM Allulose, a low-calorie sugar, the most significant example of the innovation capability we established three years ago at our Commercial and Food Innovation Centre in Chicago. Since the launch, we have seen encouraging early interest and engagement from customers across a range of applications, and this supports our confidence in its longer term potential. However, given the relatively long development and adoption cycles for new ingredients, we do not expect it to have any material effect on the Group’s performance during the next financial year.

END

¹ Range based on forecast foreign exchange rates of GBP:USD £1.00:$1.69 in September 2014.
 
Conference call:
A conference call will be held today at 8:00am BST, hosted by Javed Ahmed, Chief Executive and Nick Hampton, Chief Financial Officer. Participants are requested to dial in at least 10 minutes before the commencement of the call.

Dial in details are as follows:
Standard International Access: +44 (0) 20 3003 2666
Password: Tate & Lyle

UK replay number: +44 (0) 20 3350 6902
Replay access PIN: 1711809
A replay of this call will be available after the end of the live call for 14 days until 15 April 2015.