Tate & Lyle’s full-year profits jumped despite what chief executive Nick Hampton terms “challenging market conditions”.

In the year to 31 March, the food and beverage manufacturer saw pre-tax profit increase 18% to £287m, which it said was in part, a result of the sale of remaining interest in animal nutrition and personal care specialist Primient.

Following the sale of its controlling interest in Primient – its primary products business in North America and Latin America – in April 2022 to KPS Capital Partners, Tate & Lyle has agreed to sell its remaining 49.7% interest to KPS for £274.9m in cash.

The firm said the move completes its transformation to a specialty food and beverage solutions business.

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Despite the positive profit performance, Tate & Lyle’s sales took a 2% dip to £1.46bn over the year, which it said was due to lower volume from “soft” consumer demand, customer destocking and prioritising margin.

Hampton said: “In challenging market conditions, it’s been another year of robust financial performance and strategic progress, with strong profit growth and productivity delivery, excellent cash generation, and further progress to transform the business.

“We are now well-positioned to capture the significant growth opportunities ahead as we look to provide our customers with the solutions they need to meet growing consumer demand for healthier, tastier and more sustainable food and drink.”

For the year ending 31 March 2025, the manufacturer expects to deliver slightly lower sales than the prior year and EBITDA growth of between 4% and 7%.

Tate & Lyle added that having prioritised revenue and margin ahead of volume growth last year, it expects good volume growth in the 2025 financial year.