Tate & Lyle full-year profit up 85%, boosted by FX

For the year to the end of March, pre-tax profit rose to £233m from £126m on sales of £2.75bn, up 17% from the year before. Tate said the weaker sterling in the aftermath of the Brexit vote increased adjusted pre-tax profit by £40m compared with the comparative year.

At constant currency, pre-tax profit was up 20%, with a good performance and increased margins in both business divisions. The company declared a final dividend of 19.8p per share, giving a total dividend for the year of 28.0p, unchanged from the year before.

Chief executive Javed Ahmed said: "This has been a year of strong performance. Both business divisions delivered good profit growth, with Bulk Ingredients delivering particularly good results, driven by excellent commercial and manufacturing performance.

"Speciality Food Ingredients performed well delivering profit growth and margin expansion, and continued to strengthen its focus on commercial execution, particularly in North America where volume growth remains challenging. The innovation pipeline is healthy with New Product sales exceeding $100m for the first time."

As far as Brexit is concerned, Tate noted that it generates less than 2% of its revenues in the UK, so the outcome of the referendum is not expected to have a material near-term impact on the business.