2nd Jul 2008 12:00
Disposal of International Sugar Trading Tate & Lyle PLC ("Tate & Lyle") announces the sale of its international sugartrading operations to Bunge Limited ("Bunge") for an undisclosed amount. The disposal, which is conditional on anti-trust approval in a small number ofcountries, represents another step in delivering on Tate & Lyle's strategy ofreducing its exposure to volatile commodity markets. As a first stage, the operations and the employees of the international sugartrading business will transfer to Bunge. The working capital in the businesswill remain with, and be collected and paid by, Tate & Lyle through to 31 March2009 at which point it will be assumed by Bunge upon final completion of thetransaction. The disposal will allow Tate & Lyle Sugars to concentrate on its core sugarrefining operations. In conjunction with the sale, the raw cane sugar sourcingteam in the Group's EU sugar refining operations is being strengthened to ensureit has the appropriate resources going forward to support and develop its keysupplier relationships. Iain Ferguson, Chief Executive of Tate & Lyle said: "Our international sugar trading operation is a good business. However, therecent sale of our sugar businesses in the Americas and the restrictions onexports from our EU cane sugar refineries, which were implemented as part of theEU Sugar Regime reforms, have reduced the value of international sugar tradingto Tate & Lyle. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our employees inthis business for their commitment and hard work over the years and wish themevery future success within the Bunge organization." The gross assets attributable to the business being sold had a value of £288million at 31 March 2008; net operating assets had a value of £106 million at 31March 2008 and related primarily to working capital. A small number of minorityinterests related to the sugar trading business are not included in the sale andwill be addressed separately over the coming months in accordance with therelated shareholders' agreements. The sale of the international sugar tradingbusiness and the anticipated disposal of the minority interests are togetherunlikely to generate a material profit or loss on disposal; the sale of some ofthe minority interests may occur in the 2010 financial year. For more information contact Tate & Lyle PLC: Tim Lodge, Director of Investor RelationsTel: 020 7626 6525 or Mobile: 07798 837317 Rowan Adams, Director of Corporate Communications (Media)Tel: 020 7626 6525 or Mobile 07713 067 542 Notes to Editors 1. Tate & Lyle's international sugar trading business made an operating profitof £2 million in the two months to 31 May 2008, an operating loss of £9 millionin the year ended 31 March 2008, and an operating profit of £22 million in theyear ended 31 March 2007. 2. The results of this business will be reclassified as discontinued operations.A restatement of Tate & Lyle's accounts for the six months ended 31 September2007 and for the year ended 31 March 2008 will be published on the Company'swebsite www.tateandlyle.com. 3. The sale excludes Tate & Lyle's shareholding in its subsidiary in Israel,Tate & Lyle Gadot Manufacturing, and the minority interests in sugar facilitiesin Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Thailand. 4. Tate & Lyle's Annual General Meeting will be held on 23 July 2008 on whichday we will also publish our Interim Management Statement for the three monthsended 30 June 2008. About Tate & Lyle Tate & Lyle is a world-leading renewable food and industrial ingredientscompany, serving a global market from over 50 production facilities throughoutthe Americas, Europe and South East Asia. Our efficient, large-scalemanufacturing plants turn agricultural products, corn and cane sugar, intovaluable ingredients for our customers. These ingredients add taste, texture,nutrition and increased functionality to products that millions of people aroundthe world use or consume every day. Tate & Lyle's range of leading branded food ingredients includes SPLENDA(R)Sucralose, PROMITOR(TM) Dietary Fiber, STA-LITE(R) Polydextrose, Tate & LyleFairtrade Sugar and Lyle's Golden Syrup. Tate & Lyle also produces brandedindustrial ingredients including Bio-PDO(TM), Ethylex(R) and STA-Lock(R) paperstarches; and staple ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, sugar,ethanol, citric acid and basic starches. In addition to providing a wide rangeof ingredients our expert sales and product applications teams support customersby providing technical advice and proprietary consumer insight studies. Tate & Lyle is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol TATE.L.American Depositary Receipts trade under TATYY. In the year to 31 March 2008,Tate & Lyle employed 6,488 people in its subsidiaries and joint ventures, andsales totalled £3.4 billion. http://www.tateandlyle.com. SPLENDA(R) is atrademark of McNeil Nutritionals, LLC Copyright Business Wire 2008Related Shares:
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