PureCircle Profit To Be Lower On Year; Agrees Joint Venture

27th Jul 2010 08:40

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Sweeteners company PureCircle Ltd. (PURE.LN) Tuesday said spending on sales and marketing and investment in production facilities mean profit for its 2010 fiscal year will be lower than a year earlier. The company added sales will be flat year-on-year. It ended a contract with a trading partner in favor of selling directly to food and beverage makers, the company said. The trading partner accounted for 60% of its sales in the 2009 fiscal year, PureCircle said. Also Tuesday, PureCircle said it agreed to form a joint venture with Associated British Foods PLC's (ABF.LN) British Sugar Group unit to market a range of low calorie sweeteners worldwide. Joint venture The Natural Sweetness Company will be owned equally by both parties and will develop and market a range of products to the food and drinks industry. The low calorie products will be a combination of sugar and PureCircle's sweeteners, which are derived from the stevia plant. In February, PureCircle, whose customers include Unilever NV (UNA.AE) and PepsiCo Inc. (PEP), said it formed a joint venture with Imperial Sugar Co. (IPSU) to create a new range of sweeteners. -By Jason Douglas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9272; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 27, 2010 03:40 ET (07:40 GMT)