Dairygold suspends share trading
It yesterday informed shareholders by letter that as this process is not complete, the board decided it would be inappropriate to conduct the next round of share trading, which had been planned for November 21 to December 16.
“Accordingly, the board has decided to close the share register of the society, defer the third round of the share trading process until further notice and that the approval of private transfer of shares between members will be deferred until further notice,” the letter stated.
Meanwhile, Dairygold warned yesterday it may have to close a Welsh cheese packing plant with the loss of 115 jobs. It has initiated a 90-day consultation period with staff as part of a strategic review of operations. The plant at the Aeron Valley Enterprise Park, Felinfach, has a capacity of 1,000 tonnes of cheese per week.
It is involved in packing Dairygold-branded cheese and private contract business.
Site Manager of Dairygold UK, John Thomas, said there is significant over-capacity across Britain in the cheese packing sector with most operators experiencing declining volumes in their packing facilities.
“We managed to stem the fall in throughput at the plant last year with a number of private packing and own-label arrangements.
“Despite continued business development efforts however, the facility continues to operate well below acceptable capacity.
“Dairygold cannot continue to operate the facility at current levels and so we are involved in a strategic review of operations to determine the plant’s future,” he said.
Mr Thomas said if a solution cannot be found to stem the decreasing volumes and maintain a viable operation then the management will need to consider ceasing operations at the Felinfach facility.
Dairygold entered into a joint venture with British-based First Milk in 2001 for the purchase of the plant and at the time also took 100% ownership of the adjoining cheese packing plant.
In 2003, Glasgow-based cheese manufacturer McLelland bought Dairygold’s 50% share in the plant but the Irish co-op retained ownership of the packing facility.
Ceredigion Assembly Member Elin Jones called on Welsh rural affairs minister Carwyn Jones to hold urgent talks with the co-op.
“There is a long tradition of cheese production in the Aeron Valley and this will hit the area very hard - 115 jobs in a rural area are extremely difficult to replace,” he said.
