Annual Financial Report

RNS Number : 9764B

Tate & Lyle PLC

15 June 2021

 

Tate & Lyle PLC

Annual Financial Report

Tate & Lyle PLC (the 'Company') confirms that copies of the following documents have been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

1.  Annual Report 2021;
 

2.  Notice of Annual General Meeting 2021;
 

3.  Notice of Availability; and
 

4.  Proxy Form.

The Annual Report 2021, Notice of Annual General Meeting 2021 and Notice of Availability are also available on Tate & Lyle's website at www.tateandlyle.com/investors/annual-reports . A hard copy of the Annual Report 2021 and Notice of Annual General Meeting 2021 will be posted to shareholders who have requested them on or around 28 June 2021.

For the purposes of complying with Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule ('DTR') 6.3.5R and the requirements it imposes on issuers as to how to make public annual financial reports, we set out below:

- in Appendix A, the principal risks and uncertainties facing the Company;

- in Appendix B, the Directors' responsibility statement; and

- in Appendix C, the disclosure regarding related party transactions.

The appendices have been extracted from the Annual Report 2021 in unedited full text and the page numbers in the text refer to the page numbers in that document. This information should be read in conjunction with the Company's 2021 full-year results announcement, released on 27 May 2021, which contained a condensed set of financial statements and can be found at  www.tateandlyle.com/investors/results-and-presentations . Together, these constitute the material required by DTR 6.3.5R to be communicated to the media in unedited full text through a Regulatory Information Service.

Claire-Marie O'Grady

Company Secretary

15 June 2021

APPENDIX A

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

Strategic Risks

1.  Lack of growth in Food & Beverage Solutions

Failing to grow Food & Beverage Solutions would prevent us from delivering against our targets. This could reduce our profitability over both the shorter and longer term and damage investors' view of us.

How we mitigate the risk

· Our organic and acquisitive growth plan supports our strategy.

· We have global and regional five-year plans focused on key categories.

· Our M&A team works closely with Innovation and Commercial Development (ICD) and with our divisions to find acquisitions and partnerships that will help us grow.

· We have incentive schemes and bonus programmes for customer-facing teams tied to strategic as well as operational targets.

What we've done this year

·   We strengthened our customer offering and presence in Asia with the acquisition of stevia and tapioca businesses in China and Thailand, respectively.

· We appointed a new, experienced leader of our ICD team.

· We created a new region of Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, under new leadership, to increase our focus on building our presence in higher growth markets.

· We continued to simplify the structure of our customer-facing teams to get closer to our customers and help commercialise new products more quickly.

· We launched a number of online tools to support and connect with our customers including our Sweetener and Fibre Universities.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

· Simplify

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

2.  Failure to develop and commercialise new ingredients

New products are essential to our ability to lead the industry in our chosen categories, and thus to the long-term growth of our business. Without them, we might be unable to meet our customers' future requirements, which could damage our performance and

reputation and result in customers switching to competitors.

How we mitigate the risk

· We have a robust innovation process that, through internal development and open innovation, delivers a strong pipeline of New Products.

· Our ICD team tracks emerging consumer trends and works closely with commercial partners to create New Products and solutions that will deliver growth.

·   Our customer-facing teams' incentive and bonus schemes include targets for New Product revenue.

· We have an open innovation team that scouts for breakthrough technologies.

· We prioritise partnership opportunities with customers to accelerate development cycles and bring New Products to market more quickly.

What we've done this year

· We launched 13 New Products from our innovation pipeline.

· We increased the value of our innovation pipeline by 18%.

· Our marketing centre of excellence increased the monitoring of global trends and consumer insights for sharing across our regions.

· We expanded our ICD team into Asia Pacific.

· We launched new online concepts to support our customers including the Tate & Lyle Nutrition Centre and the Collaborate at Home Kitchen in North America.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

3.  Inability to attract, develop, engage and retain key people

To be a successful global business, and to deliver our strategy, having the right

capabilities and people is critical. We therefore have a number of strategies in place to recruit, develop and retain our people effectively.

How we mitigate the risk

· We have a mix of short- and long-term incentives. This includes a bonus scheme available to a broad population of employees.

· Our talent development plans give employees opportunities and training to build their capabilities and resilience.

· We have initiatives in place to enhance equity, diversity and inclusion across the organisation.

· We have a single global performance management system and talent planning process.

· We measure progress against cultural objectives and carry out global employee surveys that help to tell us what employees really think about working at Tate & Lyle.

· Our Executive Committee and the Board plan succession for business-critical roles.

· We encourage open and transparent feedback from our people so we are able to react to any challenges that emerge.

What we've done this year

· During the pandemic, we significantly expanded our internal communications programme to connect with our people working at home and in our plants and labs, using new initiatives such as virtual cafés with the Chief Executive and other senior leaders.

· We implemented a programme to support the physical and mental wellbeing of our employees during lockdown.

· We undertook a review of our approach to equity, diversity and inclusion and developed a set of priorities and actions, including the establishment of a new role of Chief Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Officer and a new function to support our work in this area.

· We accelerated adoption of e-learning for all employees by providing access to learning tools such as LinkedIn Learning, and also provided an extensive coaching programme for our top 100 managers.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

4.  Failure to adequately anticipate and minimise adverse impacts from global disruptive forces such as disease, climate change, natural disaster, trade disruption or civil unrest

Global disruptive events could have a significant impact on our business and our ability to conduct manufacturing operations. This could materialise at any point along the supply chain as well as affecting global demand, capacity or our customers' needs.

How we mitigate the risk

·   We have a global business continuity management framework to enable effective recovery from a major disruption.

· Caring for our planet is one of the three pillars of our purpose, and environmental considerations are part of how we make strategic decisions.

· Having plants in different regions and countries means we can serve customers

where practical from elsewhere if a particular area is disrupted.

· Our Risk Committee oversees emerging risks to ensure we're prepared to meet

  customers' needs.

What we've done this year

· The establishment of a Global Pandemic Response Team, together with teams at our local sites, managed our response to Covid-19 in order to minimise disruption.

· We progressed our sustainability programme including the publication of ambitious new environmental targets for 2030.

· We continued to strengthen operational business continuity capabilities and our crisis management plans.

· We enhanced our strategic planning process to provide us with greater resilience and future-proofing against future disruptive events.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Simplify

Trend compared with 2020: decreasing

Operational risks

5.  Failure to act safely and operate our facilities safely and responsibly

Safety is not just a priority, it's foundational at Tate & Lyle. Failure to comply with laws and regulations relating to health, safety and the environment could result in us being unable to protect our employees, stakeholders and the wider communities in which we operate. It could also lead to fines and have a negative impact on our reputation.

How we mitigate the risk

· We have a continuous improvement plan for Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) in place at all our sites (Journey to EHS Excellence, or J2EE). It is visibly sponsored by the Chief Executive and Executive Committee.

· Our EHS Advisory Board, which includes our Chief Executive and an external EHS expert, receives EHS updates and reviews performance quarterly. Our Executive Committee and Board regularly review EHS performance and progress against J2EE.

· The Incident Review Board conducts reviews of major, severe or potentially severe events.

· Gensuite, a cloud-based tool, is used to manage EHS data and facilitate EHS

reporting.

What we've done this year

· We put in place strict protocols at all our sites to ensure we protected our people during the pandemic including sanitation, social distancing, hand washing and wearing face masks.

· 26 of our sites have passed tollgate 3 (of seven) as part of our J2EE programme.

· We continued to invest in our EHS team, recruiting, developing and embedding safety engineers at our major plants.

· We utilised virtual safety assessments in light of Covid-19 to ensure we maintained progress with our safety programme.

· We integrated food safety, product quality and site security into the responsibilities of our EHS team.

· We added employee wellbeing into the J2EE programme.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

· Simplify

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

6.  Failure to operate our plants continuously, manage our supply chain, and meet high standards of customer service

There are many risks in operating plants which could cause breaks in production leading to disruption and a deterioration in customer service. This, in turn, could damage our ability to grow and perform as a business.

How we mitigate the risk

· Our plant network has a preventative maintenance programme.

· We have an ongoing programme to improve our global supply chain processes.

·   Business continuity capabilities enable us to supply products to customers from alternative sources quickly if there's a natural disaster or major equipment or plant failure.

· Our customer service team is part of Global Operations so works closely with our plants, enabling us to be agile and responsive.

· We have contingency plans to manage disruption such as extreme winter weather to the extent possible.

What we've done this year

· We put in place strict hygiene protocols at all our sites to ensure our people were protected and our plants kept running during the pandemic.

· We introduced new working protocols to enable major capital projects to continue.

· We further developed our approach to business continuity.

· The continuous improvement programme continued to operate despite the challenges of the pandemic delivering 3% increase in productivity benefits.

· We continued our three-year programme to demolish old and potentially unsafe

structures at our manufacturing sites.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

7.  Failure to maintain the quality and safety of our products

Poor quality products could affect safety and also damage our reputation and relationships with customers. This could have a negative effect on our performance and corporate reputation.

How we mitigate the risk

· We have strict quality control and product testing procedures.

· We regularly test our recall process.

· We have a third-party audit programme, supplemented by internal compliance audits.

· We assess our raw material suppliers, tollers and third-party warehouses for food safety and quality risks.

· We have a programme to manage allergens in our supply chain and ensure our ingredients are either free from allergens or that any allergens are disclosed.

· Our Quality Incident Review Board investigates incidents and shares best

practice across our sites.

What we've done this year

· We embedded our centralised recipe management system streamlining how we manage products and ingredients.

· We continued to ensure compliance with the US Food Safety Modernization Act across our plants.

· We manage cross-contamination risk at our plants by using the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food defence plan builder.

·   Having combined the leadership of the Quality and EHS functions last year, we continued to leverage the strengths of the J2EE programme to apply them to the Global Quality Standards.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Simplify

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

8.  Inability to manage fluctuations in the price and availability of raw materials, energy, freight and other operating inputs

Fluctuations in crop prices could affect our margins. These changes could stem from things like alternative crops, co-product values and varying local or regional harvests because of, for example, weather conditions, crop disease, climate change or crop yields. In some cases, due to the basis for pricing in sales contracts or due to competitive markets, we may not be able to pass the full increase in raw material prices, or higher energy, freight or other operating costs, on to our customers. Our margins might also be affected by customers not taking expected volumes.

How we mitigate the risk

· We have strategic relationships and multi-year agreements with suppliers and trading companies.

· Our supply and tolling contracts with customers help us reduce raw material risk.

· Our raw material and energy purchasing policies increase the security of our supply.

· Our network of corn silos (elevators) enhances the security of our supply.

· We manage our US corn position on a net basis, which includes operating within certain pre-approved limits on inventories of corn and co-products as well as executory contracts for the purchase of corn and sale of corn-based products.

· As part of this risk management strategy, the risk of fluctuations in prices of certain commodities (mainly corn) is also partially managed through the use of certain derivatives (mainly corn futures sold and purchased on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange).

What we've done this year

· We strengthened our procurement resources regionally to better manage local market variances under a global centralised management structure.

· Our transportation procurement and logistics teams merged to better manage supplier and customer service.

· We leveraged new technologies such as Oracle Transportation Management System to manage freight more efficiently and cost effectively.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

9.  Failure to maintain the security of our information systems and data

A cyber security breach, whether stemming from human error, deliberate action or a  technology failure, could lead to unauthorised access to or misuse of our information systems, technology or data. This, in turn, could result in harm to our assets, data loss  and business disruption - and could bring legal risks and reputational damage.

How we mitigate the risk

· Our cyber security programme focuses on maintaining and strengthening our defences in terms of our processes, people and technology.

· We run compulsory cyber security training.

· We have robust cyber security defences including a continuous programme to detect threats and vulnerabilities, and we undertake independent penetration tests.

· Our plants run on separate IT systems which increases their resilience.

· We have a 24/7, third-party security operations centre to deal promptly with

any issues.

What we've done this year

· With many people working from home due to the pandemic, we strengthened our firewalls, introduced remote working technology such as MS Teams, invested in new equipment and introduced stricter password security to ensure people could work safely remotely.

· We held a Cyber Security Awareness month to educate employees on cyber risks and security.

· We strengthened our Cyber Security Incident Response Plan including critical breach scenario exercises and aligned it to our Company-wide risk and controls management programme.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

· Simplify

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

Legal, Regulatory and Governance Risks

10. Breach of legal or regulatory requirements including our Code of Ethics

If we don't meet our legal and/or regulatory obligations, our relationships with customers are likely to suffer, and we could be subject to contractual claims, threats to our licences and, in extreme cases, risks to our directors and officers. It could also affect our performance and corporate reputation.

How we mitigate the risk

· Our legal and regulatory teams work closely with our commercial teams to identify legal and regulatory risk and provide advice and solutions.

· We monitor legal and regulatory developments regularly to make sure we know what could affect Tate & Lyle.

· We review our key legal policies regularly.

· We run a legal and ethics and compliance training programme.

· We have a third-party whistleblowing service that gives our employees a way to raise concerns anonymously if they're not comfortable raising them internally.

· We have lawyers in each region to work with commercial colleagues to identify and mitigate legal risk from the bottom up.

What we've done this year

· We implemented a document management system to facilitate better ways of working that are easier to audit.

· We strengthened our contract documentation processes including the tracking of agreed terms and conditions, and provided training for sales teams.

· We provided training to our global procurement team on legal policies including contract training.

· We continued to provide legal, ethics and compliance training across the organisation as part of our annual training plan.

· We provided anti-trust/competition training.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

11. Failure to maintain an effective system of internal financial controls

Without effective internal financial controls, we could be exposed to the risk of fraud and error in our financial reporting as well as losses from events which may then affect our performance and ability to operate.

How we mitigate the risk

· We have an established framework of financial policies and standards supported by procedures and controls over key processes - in many instances these controls are automated and we maximise the use of preventative controls.

· The design and operating effectiveness of controls are monitored on an ongoing basis and the results are reported twice a year to the Executive Committee.

· We have several forums to monitor and manage our financial controls effectiveness, such as our quarterly regional Control Environment Councils chaired by the relevant General Manager.

· The Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer review the business and financials monthly.

· At both the half year and the end of the financial year, confirmation is provided to the Executive Committee, the Audit Committee and the Board that minimum control standards are operating effectively.

· Our well-resourced Group Audit and Assurance team provides independent assurance to management and the Board.

What we've done this year

· We substantially completed the roll-out of our single SAP platform across the Group.

· We continued to invest in our financial controls function, expanding the team and setting up centres of excellence within our Global Shared Services Centre in Poland.

· We appointed a financial controller focused on Global Operations and financial controls across our plant network.

· We rolled out our Finance Excellence programme including an end-to-end review of key financial processes and how we can better use automation.

· We established an end-to-end process owner forum.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

· Simplify

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

12. Changes in consumer, customer or government attitudes to our products

The regulatory status or perception of our ingredients could be affected by things like changes in customers' or consumers' attitudes, changes in food laws and regulations, and/or campaigns targeted at specific ingredients or technologies. These could affect our ability or freedom to operate.

How we mitigate the risk

· The science behind our ingredients (for example, health claims or nutritional impact) is supported by credible sources and is communicated clearly to and understood by the relevant regulatory authorities.

· Our global regulatory team, supported by external consultants, monitors any local regulatory requirements that affect our products.

· Our global nutrition team initiates and monitors research and publications on the use and functionality of our ingredients, and maintains a global advisory network of health and nutrition clinicians, academics and experts.

· We work closely with thought-leading customers around the world to jointly focus on the science and consumer benefits of our ingredients.

· Membership of trade organisations gives us access to broader sources of information and provides, where necessary, a single voice for our industry on issues (both regulatory and public interest) affecting our ingredients.

· Our Research Advisory Group, comprising leading scientific experts, reviews key aspects of our innovation activities and provides guidance to our team.

What we've done this year

· We continued to develop our regulatory team in the Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America regions to strengthen relationships with regulators in these markets.

· We continued to invest in our global nutrition team with funding for studies supporting the safety and efficacy of our ingredients.

· We further evolved how the Research Advisory Group works to align it more closely with our strategy.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Simplify

Trend compared with 2020: unchanged

13. Failure to manage effectively changes in government regulations and/or trade policies

Government actions or policies could cause changes in tariffs or customs duties. Governments could also impose import/export limitations and other barriers on our business. These could lead to additional costs, restrict our growth and limit our ability to operate in certain markets.

How we mitigate the risk

· We engage with political parties, influencers and regulatory authorities in the main countries in which we operate.

· We are an active member of relevant industry trade associations, such as the Corn Refiners Association in the US.

· Having plants in different countries means we can serve customers from elsewhere where practical if products from certain markets are restricted or become less economically attractive.

· We make sure our business is diversified by continuing to invest in resources and infrastructure in different markets and geographies.

What we've done this year

· We developed a contingency plan in the event the UK and the EU did not agree a trade deal.

· We worked with national and state trade associations in the US to progress our commercial and sustainability goals.

· We acquired two businesses in the year based in China and Thailand, expanding our geographic reach and plant network.

Link to our priorities

· Sharpen

· Accelerate

Trend compared with 2020: increasing

APPENDIX B

DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

In accordance with Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 4.1, the Directors , whose names and functions are listed on pages 80 to 83 confirm, to the best of their knowledge:

·   that the Group financial statements, prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and IFRSs adopted pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 as it applies in the European Union, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit of the Company and undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole;

· that the Annual Report, including the Strategic Report, includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company and undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face; and

· that they consider the Annual Report, taken as a whole, is fair, balanced and understandable and provides the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Group's and Company's position, performance, business model and strategy.

APPENDIX C

RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

Identity of related parties

The Group has related party relationships with its joint ventures, the Group's pension schemes and with key management, being its Directors and executive officers. Key management compensation is disclosed in Note 9. There were no other related party transactions with key management. There were no material changes in related parties or in the nature of related party transactions during the year and no material related party transactions containing unusual commercial terms in the current or prior year.

Subsidiaries and joint ventures

	Year ended 31 March
	2021 £m	2020 £m
Sales of goods and services to joint ventures	128	164
Purchases of goods and services from joint ventures	-	-
Receivables due from joint ventures	6	7
Payables due to joint ventures	-	-

Transactions entered into by the Company, Tate & Lyle PLC, with subsidiaries and between subsidiaries as well as the resultant balances of receivables and payables are eliminated on consolidation and are not required to be disclosed.

 

END

 

 

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