Tate & Lyle maintained its positive outlook for the full year after the company's performance remained consistent with a strong first half across the last three months.

It said the company had been able to rely on "solid growth" in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa to make up for a softer performance in Asia Pacific and Latin America.

It said that full-year guidance will remain unchanged for the year ending March 31.

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"We continue to expect earnings per share growth in constant currency to be broadly flat to low-single digit," the company said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

It said that on an adjusted basis, it showed a strong performance on operating profit.

"Sales in all regions were ahead of the comparative period as we continued to drive good price and mix management, with volume overall broadly in line," it said.

The results come two years after chief executive Nick Hampton set out a four-year plan to cut costs by $100 million (£77 million) at the maker of Splenda sweeteners.

The former finance chief, and 20-year PepsiCo veteran, said that the business would focus its growth on three customer categories: Drinks, dairy, and the combined category of soups, sauces and dressings.

He laid out the plans after taking over from Javed Ahmed in April 2018.

On November 7 last year Tate & Lyle topped the FTSE 250's biggest risers after it said that first-half profit was up 45% to £164 million "despite market challenges".

Investors reacted less well on Thursday, sending shares down by 2.6p, or 0.3%, to 798.6p.

Extra cash to tackle the climate emergency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been announced in the Scottish Government's new budget.

Public Finance Minister Kate Forbes unveiled the tax and spending plans for 2020-21 in place of Derek Mackay, who quit as finance secretary after it emerged he sent "imappropriate" messages to a 16-year-old.

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The budget provided for record spending of £15 billion in health and care services, with £645 million of cash going towards expanding the provision of free nursery care.

To encourage more Scots to use public transport, Ms Forbes she said funding for rail and bus services would rise by £286 million to £1.55 billion in 2020-21.

In addition, more than £85 million will be spent promoting active travel - such as walking and cycling - while a loan fund that helps people make the switch from petrol and diesel to low-emission vehicles is being upped to £35 million.

While the threshold at which workers are required to pay the higher and top rates of income tax has been frozen, the amount at which people start to pay the basic and intermediate rates will rise in line with inflation.

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Overall, 56% of Scottish taxpayers will pay less than they would if they lived elsewhere in the UK, Ms Forbes said.

The head of the US aviation regulator said there is "no timescale" for the return of Boeing's 737 Max jets to service but said global regulators are likely to agree on the necessary fixes for the planes.

Steve Johnson, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said thorough testing would take place on the planes, including certification flights which he hoped will start in "a few weeks".

Mr Johnson said he met with bosses at the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in London earlier in the day, as he stressed the importance of alignment across international regulators.