Tate & Lyle says trading in line with expectations

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - British food ingredients firm Tate & Lyle (LSE: TATE.L - news) said on Wednesday that first-quarter trading was in line with its expectations and it was standing by its forecasts for the year.

The company said in May that adjusted profit before tax for the year ending on March 31, 2016 would be in line with 2015 earnings of 224 million pounds ($349 million), which was a drop of 30 percent from the previous year.

Jefferies analysts said the trading update "reads as a reassuring statement to us, relative to the current negative climate of opinion around this company".

In the three months ended June 30, Tate & Lyle's specialty food ingredients business improved from last year, although sales volumes for several parts of that business were lower.

The company cited supply chain interruptions last year, mostly stemming from an unusually harsh winter in the U.S. Midwest.

Its bulk ingredients business was hurt by low U.S. ethanol margins.

The company, which sells sweeteners and other ingredients to packaged food and drink makers, is restructuring its business to focus more on higher-margin specialty ingredients as opposed to commoditised bulk ingredients.

In April, Tate & Lyle said it was getting out of the European bulk ingredients business and announced changes to its struggling sucralose unit, whose profits have been hammered by a glut of cheaper supply from Chinese competitors. ($1 = 0.6412 pounds) (Reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by David Clarke)