(Reuters) -British food ingredients maker Tate & Lyle on Thursday estimated its full-year revenue growth would be 4% at best, less than last year, as the uncertainty over U.S. tariffs has raised costs for the company and its customers.
The company, which has manufacturing plants in both the United States and China, said the tariff-related cost increases were mainly for the products it supplies between these two countries.
U.S. trade policies have created uncertainty for companies across the globe. While some have responded by passing on costs to customers, finding alternative sourcing or adjusting their manufacturing processes, others await more clarity — despite the temporary truce in the Sino-U.S. trade war announced last week.
Tate & Lyle is among the latter, and ahead of such clarity, said it expects revenue growth for the April-March fiscal year to be at, or slightly below, the bottom of its medium-term range of 4% to 6%.
The company, which supplies ingredients for Splenda, the sweetener in Diet Coke and other sugar-free drinks, said its revenue increased 5% to 1.74 billion pounds ($2.33 billion) in the year ended March 31.
Its shares dropped 2.4% to 588.5 pence in early trading on Thursday. ($1 = 0.7453 pounds)
(Reporting by Anandita Mehrotra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Savio D’Souza)
