2nd Apr 2008 07:00
Tate & Lyle PLC Trading Statement on entering Closed Period In line with our usual practice, Tate & Lyle issues the following trading updatefor the year ending 31 March 2008 ahead of the announcement of the preliminaryresults on 22 May 2008. TRADING PERFORMANCE The Group's trading performance since the Interim Management Statement ("IMS")on 15 February 2008 further reinforces the Board's overall expectations as setout in the IMS, that the outturn for our continuing operations in the secondhalf of the year to 31 March 2008 will be broadly similar to that of the firstsix months(1). 1 The profit before tax for the first six months of the year ending 31 March2008 from continuing operations, after adjusting for exceptional items and theamortisation of acquired intangible assets and the reclassification of theprofit before tax for Occidente from continuing operations to discontinuedoperations, was £117 million. NET DEBT Net debt of £1,036 million at the end of February was in line with our internalforecast made at the time of the IMS. EXCHANGE RATES We now anticipate a reduction in profit before tax of approximately £11 millionfor the year as a whole from exchange translation by comparison with the prioryear. The average sterling : US dollar exchange rate of 2.01 (2007: 1.89) forthe year ending March 2008 was the main factor behind this, although the impactof the translation of the US dollar was partially offset by other currencymovements, and in particular by the stronger euro. RETURN OF CAPITAL Following approval from shareholders at the AGM in July 2007 to purchase up to10% of the issued share capital at that time, we had acquired by the close ofbusiness on 31 March 2008 33.6 million shares (6.9% of the issued share capitalat the time of the AGM) for a total cash consideration of £159 million. TheCompany had 457.2 million ordinary shares in issue at 31 March 2008, excluding2.8 million ordinary shares held in Treasury. The average number of shares in issue during the year for use in calculatingbasic earnings per share is 475 million, and the estimate for calculatingdiluted earnings per share is 481 million shares. END A conference call will be held today at 8.30am, hosted by Iain Ferguson, ChiefExecutive and John Nicholas, Group Finance Director. Participants are requestedto dial in at least five minutes before the commencement of the call. Dial indetails are as follows: Participant dial in number: +44 (0)1452 560 304 (UK freephone 0800 694 1449) Conference passcode: 41737930 Replay dial in number: +44 (0)1452 550 000 (UK freephone 0800 953 1533) Replay passcode: 41737930# A replay of this call will be available from two hours after the end of the liveevent, for seven days until 8 April 2008. For more information contact Tate & Lyle PLC: Tim Lodge, Director of Investor Relations Tel: 020 7626 6525 or Mobile 07798 837 317 Ferne Hudson, Head of Media and Public Relations Tel: 020 7626 6525 or Mobile 07713 067433 Copyright Business Wire 2008Related Shares:
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