Tate & Lyle this morning (1 July) confirmed the sale of its sugars division in a bid to focus on “sustainable long-term growth” from its speciality food ingredients business.

The UK-listed group said the GBP211m (US$314.2m) sale of its EU sugar refining operations to American Sugar Refining (ASR) would allow it to become a “more focused, less volatile business”.

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The deal will see ASR take on cane sugar refineries in London and Lisbon, the Lyle’s Golden Syrup factory in the UK capital and the Tate & Lyle Process Technology consulting business.

The completion of the deal, which is conditional upon anti-trust clearance in Portugal, will also see Tate & Lyle provide ASR with a perpetual worldwide licence to use the Tate & Lyle brand for retail sugar.

Tate & Lyle, meanwhile, has also launched plans to sell its remaining businesses in its sugars division, including Molasses and Vietnamese sugar.

Chief executive Javed Ahmed said: “Sugar refining has enjoyed a long and proud history within Tate & Lyle, but we believe the interests of this business and its employees are now best served by being part of a company for whom sugar refining is core.”

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Ahmed, who became Tate & Lyle chief executive last November and had signalled plans to refocus the business, added: “Tate & Lyle’s clear priority is to grow its speciality food ingredients business, supported by cash generated from bulk ingredients. This disposal will enable us to concentrate our resources on delivering our strategic objectives as we focus, fix and grow our business.”

Tate & Lyle’s shares were up 1.7% at 457.2p at 08:45 BST this morning.