Tate & Lyle non-exec takes a spoonful of

Douglas Hurt, a non-executive director at Tate & Lyle, bought shares in the sugar and sweetener producer after an upbeat trading statement.

In his first purchase of shares in the company, he took 5,000 at 471.7p a time, paying a total of £23,585.

The share purchase came the day after Tate & Lyle said it has made a sound start to the year and continues to anticipate progress in the current full year.

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However, despite some improvement in demand, industrial starch margins are expected to remain at lower levels and the group continues to see little near term improvement in US ethanol markets.

In its speciality food ingredients division, demand patterns for speciality sweeteners and starches have remained steady from 1 April to 30 June and the group has continued to experience solid growth in sucralose sales volumes.

Earlier this month Tate & Lyle announced that it is selling its EU sugar refining operations to American Sugar Refining for £211m. The sale includes the company's cane sugar refinery and Golden Syrup factory in London.

Hurt joined the Tate & Lyle board in March. A chartered accountant, he is also the finance director of IMI, an engineering and pneumatics company.