Glanbia battles to be cream of the crop

A proposal to spin off the company’s domestic dairy operation is likely to get the green light, which should facilitate the expansion of the processing sector in Ireland in advance of EU milk quota abolition in 2015, reports Kyran Fitzgerald

The mood music surrounding Glanbia is pretty upbeat these days, and the company’s unveiling of revised proposals aimed at spinning off its domestic dairy operation should be viewed in this light.

Glanbia Group managing director John Moloney fell just short of gaining the necessary shareholder approval for his previous restructuring plan back in May 2010, but the signs are that he will get this revised proposal over the line, in the process sparking a further wave of reform in the Irish dairy sector ahead of the lifting of the EU cap on milk production in 2015.