type public traded as lse tate industry food processing founded merger of henry tate & sons and abram lyle & sons in 1921 headquarters london england united kingdom key people sir peter gershon chairman javed ahmed ceo products starches splenda alcohol citric acid high fructose corn syrup revenue 2 356 million 2015 1 operating income 33 million 2015 1 net income 30 million 2015 1 number of employees 4 064 2015 1 website www.tateandlyle.com tate & lyle plc is a british based multinational agribusiness . it was originally a sugar refining business but from the 1970s began to diversify eventually divesting its sugar business in 2012 . it is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 250 index . it specialises in using innovative technology to turn raw materials like corn tapioca and oats into ingredients that add taste texture nutrients and increased functionality to food and beverage 2 as well as industrial chemicals and animal foods . it operates from 25 manufacturing facilities and a network of research centres worldwide . contents 1 history 1.1 sugar refining 1.2 diversification 1.3 disposal of sugar refining business 2 in popular culture 3 operations 4 see also 5 references 6 further reading 7 external links history edit sugar refining edit the company was formed in 1921 from a merger of two rival sugar refiners henry tate & sons and abram lyle & sons . 3 henry tate established his business in 1869 in liverpool later expanding to silvertown in the east end of london 3 he used his industrial fortune to found the tate gallery in london in 1897 and endowed it with his own collection of pre raphaelite paintings . 4 abram lyle a cooper and shipowner acquired an interest in sugar refinery in 1865 in greenock western scotland and then at plaistow wharf west silvertown london . 3 the two companies had large factories nearby each other henry tate in silvertown and abram lyle at plaistow wharf so prompting the merger . prior to the merger which occurred after they had died the two men were bitter business rivals although they had never met in person . 5 in 1949 the company introduced its mr cube brand as part of a marketing campaign to help it fight a proposed nationalisation by the labour government . 3 diversification edit from 1973 british membership of the european economic community threatened tate & lyle s core business with quotas imposed from brussels favouring domestic sugar beet producers over imported cane refiners such as tate & lyle . 6 as a result under the leadership of saxon tate a direct descendent of henry tate the company began to diversify into related fields of commodity trading transport and engineering and in 1976 it acquired competing cane sugar refiner manbr & garton . 6 in 1976 the company acquired a 33 % stake increased to 63 % in 1988 in amylum a european starch based manufacturing business . 3 the liverpool sugar plant closed in 1981 and the greenock plant closed during the 1990s . in 1988 tate & lyle acquired a 90 % stake in a. e. staley a us corn processing busines . in 1998 it brought haarmann & reimer a citric acid producer . in 2000 it acquired the remaining minorities of amylum and a. e. staley . 3 in 2004 it established a joint venture with dupont to manufacture a renewable 1 3 propanediol that can be used to make sorona a substitute for nylon . this was its first major foray into bio materials . 3 in 2005 dupont tate & lyle bioproducts was created as a joint venture between dupont and tate & lyle . 7 in 2006 it acquired hycail a small dutch business giving the company intellectual property and a pilot plant to manufacture polylactic acid pla another bio plastic . 8 tate & lyle has discontinued their pla activities and closed the hycail plant in 2008 . in october 2007 five european starch and alcohol plants previously part of the european starch division knowns as amylum group were sold to syral a subsidiary of french sugar company tereos . 9 syral closed its greenwich peninsula plant in london in september 2009 and it was subsequently demolished . 10 tate & lyle head office in kingsway london in february 2008 it was announced that tate & lyle granulated white cane sugar would be accredited as a fairtrade product with all the company s other retail products to follow in 2009 . 11 in april 2009 the united states international trade commission affirmed a ruling that chinese manufacturers can make copycat versions of its splenda product . 12 javed ahmed became ceo on 1 october 2009 replacing iain ferguson . 13 disposal of sugar refining business edit in july 2010 the company announced the sale of its sugar refining business including rights to use the tate & lyle brand name and lyle s golden syrup to american sugar refining for 211 million . 14 the sale included the plaistow wharf and silvertown plants . 14 in popular culture edit in 2012 harpercollins published the sugar girls a work of narrative non fiction based on the true stories of women who worked at tate & lyle s two factories in the east end of london from the 1940s to the 1960s . 15 operations edit the company is organised as follows 16 speciality food ingredients sweeteners such as splenda sucralose and crystalline fructose texturants such as starch and gums wellness ingredients such as dietary fibres bulk ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup acidulants etc. see also edit a. e. staley us owned subsidiary . splenda sucralose a key product for the group redpath sugar once owned by t & l ; sold in 2010 as part of package deal to asr references edit a b c d annual report 2015 pdf . tate & lyle . retrieved 15 april 2016 . http tateandlyle.com aboutus pages aboutus.aspx a b c d e f g tate & lyle history the river thames from hampton court to the millennium dome 1999 isbn 1860117015 duncan barrett and nuala calvi . the sugar girls . collins . isbn 978 0 00 744847 0 . a b sir saxon tate bt . daily telegraph . 5 september 2012 . retrieved 25 august 2016 . dupont and tate & lyle to open 100 million bioproducts plant . greenbiz . retrieved 3 april 2015 . tate & lyle industrial ingredients tereos starch subsidiary syral finalises the acquisition of 5 tate & lyle plants pdf . syral . retrieved 2010 01 14 . farewell tunnel refineries . 853 news views and issues around greenwich charlton blackheath and woolwich south east london . retrieved 4 september 2016 . tate & lyle sugar to be fairtrade . bbc news . february 23 2008 . retrieved 2008 02 23 . alison frankel . sweet surrender bingham wins itc sugar substitute case . litigation daily . retrieved 3 april 2015 . tate & lyle lse tate ln new ceo takes helm jefferies international ltd. 2 october 2009 a b tate & lyle sells sugar arm to american sugar refining bbc news 1 july 2010 matt nicholls 2011 02 23 . sweet tate & lyle lives celebrated . newham recorder . tate & lyle our structure further reading edit steven k. ashby and c. j. hawking . staley the fight for a new american labor movement . university of illinois press . isbn 9780252076404 . a source for information concerning t & l s union busting activities in the early 1990s in decatur illinois sugar and all that ... a history of tate & lyle by antony hugill gentry books 1978 isbn 0 85614 048 1 tate & lyle plc and ferruzzi finanziaria spa and s & w berisford plc 1987 competition commission report tate & lyle plc and british sugar plc 1991 competition commission report duncan barrett and nuala calvi . the sugar girls . collins . isbn 978 0 00 744847 0 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to tate & lyle . tate & lyle corporate website tate & lyle companies grouped at opencorporates the history of sugar in liverpool and the effects of the closure of the tate & lyle sugar refinery . the house of william park lyle son of abram lyle has had a multi million makeover . the sugar girls official website v t e ftse 100 ftse 250 companies of the united kingdom 3i infrastructure aa aberdeen asset management 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