Our Business

Resources

The Group has a number of key resources that help it achieve its strategic objectives.

People

At 31 March 2007, Tate & Lyle employed 6,900 people in its subsidiaries with a further 2,300 employed in joint ventures. Our workforce encompasses a broad range of skills and experience in areas such as food science, sales and marketing, engineering and business support services.

It is a key objective for the Group to attract and retain top-quality recruits, and to ensure that our employees develop and grow in their roles and meet new challenges as their careers progress. To help achieve these objectives, we have developed and are implementing 'The Tate & Lyle People Strategy'. This consists of four main components: 

• Behaviours for Success – these encourage our people to display strong leadership at all stages of seniority by exhibiting identified key characteristics and behaviours we need for success, such as a focus on excellent customer service.

• Talent Management – a system which addresses key business issues such as succession planning and filling development gaps to ensure we have the right skills to grow the Group at all levels. 

• Leadership Curriculum – this provides opportunities for all managers across the Group to improve their skills and expand their knowledge through a number of tailored programmes, seminars and courses. 

• Graduate Development – a Group-wide graduate recruitment and development programme to attract and develop top talent and prepare them for key roles across the Group.

Tate & Lyle's remuneration policies are designed to attract, retain and reward employees of the highest calibre and experience to help execute the Group's strategy.

Patents

We maintain a significant number of patents to support our businesses and protect our competitive advantage. Much of the product innovation and development work carried out by our research and development teams results in patentable or proprietary new technology. We monitor market developments closely to identify any potential violations of our patents and intellectual property and take appropriate legal action where considered necessary.

During the 2007 financial year, the Group's US subsidiary, Tate & Lyle Sucralose, Inc., twice took action to protect its intellectual property. On 22 May 2006 it filed suit in the US District Federal Court for Central Illinois against a Chinese manufacturing group based in Hebei province as well as six importers of sucralose into the US. On 6 April 2007 it filed a United States International Trade Commission (ITC) Case in Washington alleging patent infringement against three Chinese manufacturing groups as well as 18 importers and distributors. Both proceedings allege infringement of patented sucralose manufacturing technology in respect of sucralose manufactured in China and imported to the US by the defendants named in the two cases. On 7 May 2007 the ITC announced it had formally instituted its investigation of the infringements alleged in our claim.

Research and development

Our investment in research and development underpins our strategy to grow the contribution from our value added products. We believe this is a key differentiator for Tate & Lyle. In the year ended 31 March 2007 we spent US$42 million (£22 million) on research and development (this does not include our expenditure on protection of our intellectual property).

Our target is to spend 4% to 5% of value added turnover on research and development. The vast majority of our spend is on our internal capabilities – on fundamental research, product development and process improvement. The remainder is spent on developing relationships with the external research community, through our venture fund and alliances with key academic institutions. Some examples of how we are complementing our in-house capabilities by finding new areas of innovation, and establishing new partnerships and facilities, are set out below.

Tate & Lyle Ventures

Our new venture capital fund, Tate & Lyle Ventures, was formally launched in July 2006. The limited partnership fund will invest in start-ups and expansion stage companies that are closely aligned with Tate & Lyle's strategic objectives.

Research Advisory Group

We have established a Research Advisory Group comprising a panel of six international industry and academic experts, which reviews our research and development portfolio and provides insight into how leading-edge technologies could apply to future developments.

Partnership with King's College London

In September 2006 we announced that we will be making a £4.5 million contribution over a five-year period to King's College London to set up a new centre for research into the link between nutrition and health. The new Tate & Lyle Health Research Centre will focus on gastrointestinal health, carbohydrate metabolism, and medical conditions such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders. This partnership will allow us to share knowledge and ultimately bring new products and technologies to market.

Partnership with Microbia Precision Engineering

In October 2006 we formed a multi-year partnership to develop fermentation-derived renewable ingredients with
Microbia Precision Engineering, Inc., a subsidiary of US-based pharmaceutical company Microbia, specialising in the development of highly efficient microbial manufacturing technology. Tate & Lyle and Microbia Precision Engineering will work exclusively together within defined renewable ingredient markets and will share the profits from products commercialised through their collaboration.