Food and beverage producers are increasingly looking for ways to cut sugar out of their products. This trend is playing into the hands of PureCircle (PURE), a purveyor of natural sweeteners derived from the stevia plant. The company's double-digit sales growth in the six months to December was driven by a 31 per cent surge in volumes, as demand for its portfolio of high purity sweeteners and customisable blends soared.
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PureCircle needs scale to turn a profit. With sales rising sharply, the gross margin ballooned by 15 percentage points to 35 per cent over the period, causing gross profit to more than double to $12.3m (£7.4m). This trickled down to a $2.9m operating profit, following a $2.9m loss last year.