Shares I love: Tate & Lyle

"Changes in lifestyle, diet, consumer tastes and preferences have ushered in a wave of fresh opportunity for agricultural companies," says Mr Govan. "Indeed, in recent years, public appetite has been growing for foods that are low in calories, high in nutritional value and prepared with natural and organic ingredients. Positively, when taking a longer-term view, we believe this trend is still very much in its infancy.

The large food manufacturers are responding by substantially increasing food offerings that cater to this growing market niche. We are even seeing improvements in labelling nutritional information for products, such as the UK traffic light system, to help shoppers more easily identify healthier food.

Over 20 per cent of companies in the Baring Global Agriculture Fund have exposure to this secular health and wellness growth theme. We think there may be scope to further increase this allocation over time. Currently, we have investments throughout the health and wellness value chain, from flavours and ingredient companies to natural and organic food manufacturers.

Portfolio holdings active in the health and wellness niche that we would highlight include UK-based ingredients company Tate & Lyle. Tate & Lyle also has commodity businesses, but the healthier ingredients businesses are faster growing and have higher margins, which should improve the investment proposition over time. It's also worth noting that in 2010 Tate & Lyle sold its sugar and molasses businesses for which it was best known in the UK.

While the health and wellness niche is currently in a phase of fast expansion, we believe the forces driving this change present excellent long-term opportunities for the producers that are innovating their food and beverage offerings to capitalise on this growing demand."

The last IC recommendation on Tate & Lyle shares was 'Hold' at 580p on 1 June 2015. On 20 October 2015, the shares were trading at 567p.