6th Jul 2016 07:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stevia ingredients producer PureCircle Ltd on Wednesday said it expects to post at least a 9.0% increase in its sales for its financial year ended June 30, and noted the appointment of Rakesh Sinha as its chief financial officer.
PureCircle said it expects to report sales of no less than USD138.0 million for its recently ended financial year, up from the USD127.0 million posted a year earlier, on the back of sales growth across all regions.
PureCicle said it also expects its margins to have "strengthened considerably" in the full year, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation expected to be USD37.0 million, up 60% from the USD23.0 million recorded a year earlier. The margin improvement should principally reflect the contribution from its expanded high-purity stevia portfolio, PureCircle said, adding that there was also some moderation in stevia leaf costs and some contribution from favourable foreign exchange, although less so than in the first half of the year.
PureCircle noted that some of its planned customer launches were delayed during the year, as announced in April, but said its shipments detained by the US Customs & Border Protection had now been released and said it continued to work with the federal enforcement agency.
Elsewhere, PureCircle confirmed it has appointed Rakesh Sinha as its chief financial officer effective from Wednesday, to take over from William Mitchell who has retired from the board. PureCircle said Sinha will be based in Malaysia.
The appointment of Sinha was first announced back in February, and Sinha joined the board in April.
Sinha joined from Anglo-Dutch consumer goods firm Unilever PLC, where he held a number of senior finance and strategic roles, including as finance director of the Australian and New Zealand ice-cream business.
"During the full year the market for PureCircle Stevia has continued to develop strongly with favourable regulatory developments and continued roll-out of ever larger food and beverage brands using stevia," said Chief Executive Magomet Malsagov.
"Significant milestones in the year include the approval of high purity stevia in India and Brazil, Rebaudioside M approval in Europe and the launch of our Zeta family of new ingredients, closing the taste gap for low or no calorie applications and opening up new food and beverage categories adoption of stevia. These developments underpin our confidence in the long term prospects for our business and support the investments we are making to increase production capacity and further product innovation," Malsagov added.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
PURE.L