UK sugar and sweeteners group Tate & Lyle hopes to boost profits by sharpening its focus on cost controls and capital management.

Following the release of Tate & Lyle’s first-half results, CEO Javed Ahmed said that his primary concern in the short-term was to boost the company’s fiscal discipline.

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“I have stressed the importance of  continuing to reduce our capital expenditure, optimise working capital and reduce our costs. These are critical disciplines for any company and they will be key areas for focus for us at Tate & Lyle,” he said.

Speaking at his first investor briefing since taking up the reigns as CEO, Ahmed revealed that he has initiated a “full review” of Tate & Lyle’s “approach to cap investment, investment planning and implementation”.

“This is due to significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of future capital expenditure,” he insisted.

Finance chief Tim Lodge added that the company had seen some “quick wins” in working capital – such as changes to raw materials inventories.

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However, he added: “There is no silver bullet to working capital. It is the disciplines we all know and we’ve all used before – making sure that we drive them down, we have good reporting, we understand every link in every process and how it effects working capital. We are continuing to work on that. We aren’t there yet and that is something that is still a focus and there is more to get out of it.”

The UK Sucralose maker today (5 November) revealed that profits fell 13%, despite a 7% revenue gain.