Nick Hampton, the chief executive officer of Tate & Lyle, is preparing to leave the company after an eight-year stretch in senior roles, industry sources told Sky News. The food ingredients group has been retaining executive search firms for several months to find a successor, and a transition could take place as early as this year.
Hampton first joined Tate & Lyle in 2014 as chief financial officer and was elevated to the chief executive role in April 2018. Since his elevation to CEO, the company’s shares have underperformed, losing roughly 34% of their value since his appointment. The stock experienced a particularly sharp drop in 2025, falling 42.3% during the year.
Earlier this year, Tate & Lyle provided guidance for its fiscal year ending March 31 that pointed to a contraction in both revenue and core profit. In February the company said it expects these measures to decline by a low-single-digit percentage over the fiscal year.
As a major supplier of ingredients to consumer brands, Tate & Lyle is known in part for providing the ingredient behind Splenda, a non-sugar sweetener used in products such as Diet Coke and other sugar-free beverages. The company's performance and leadership stability are therefore of interest to food and beverage customers as well as to investors tracking consumer staples and ingredient supply chains.
The reported search for a new chief executive follows months of engagement with headhunters. Details about candidates, timing, or a formal announcement have not been disclosed. The company’s guidance and recent share-price moves were the only financial specifics provided in its public statements referenced in this report.
With Hampton potentially departing this year, stakeholders will be watching for an appointment that addresses market concerns signalled by the recent share decline and the guidance for lower revenue and core profit. Until a successor is named and a handover is confirmed, uncertainty about leadership and near-term financial trajectory will remain.