Dairygold board face vote crisis
Supporters of the motion maintained the decision had made the position of the 10-member board untenable and they should accordingly resign.
Dairygold chief executive Jerry Henchy said that from a rules point of view the passing of a vote of no confidence is merely a rebuke for the board.
The rules do not state that if a motion of no confidence is passed then the board necessarily needs to stand down, he said.
However, the board members would obviously have taken the vote of no confidence very seriously and were now considering their positions, he said.
Liam O’Flynn, a shareholder supporter of the no confidence motion from Glanworth, Co Cork, said there should be an orderly stand-down by the board.
In other words, there should be an immediate announcement of fresh elections but there is no need for panic by either suppliers or shareholders, he said.
A void need not be created. Mr O’Flynn said there was no reason why a new board could not be in place within the next couple of weeks and the business carried on.
The no confidence decision followed sharp shareholder criticisms of milk prices, store closures and processing costs in the co-op, which recorded an 80% drop in operating profit last year.
But the annual general meeting in Mallow also gave the recently-appointed Mr Henchy a strong mandate to get the business back on a sound and profitable footing as quickly as possible.
A strategic plan for building a new Dairygold, already being prepared, is expected to be ready by next March.
Mr Henchy informed shareholders it is now time to see Dairygold become the country’s leading, and most efficient, dairy processor.
“We must take the pain to do the job required so that the business can be focused to deliver long-term sustainable benefits,” he said.
Dairygold, one of the country’s largest multi-purpose businesses, has more than 8,000 shareholders, employs over 3,000 people and has an annual turnover of almost €989 million.
