GLOBAL ingredients flavours and consumer foods group Kerry says it is confident of increasing earnings for the full year to the levels previously indicated of between 160c and 165c a share.

KERRY Group’s strong cash flow gives it the scope to spend a minimum of €250 million a year on acquisitions without increasing borrowings, according to chief executive Stan McCarthy.

FOOD giant Kerry Group was criticised last night for deciding to shut a sophisticated butter making plant, resulting in the loss of 29 jobs.

THE Competition Authority has confirmed that retailers are pressuring suppliers – including the top Irish food firms – for better deals.

Food group Kerry in an Interim Management Statement released to coincide with its AGM in Tralee today said it was "confident" of meeting its forecasts for the year despite a reduction in group revenue.

THE CompetitionAuthority is facing a substantial legal costs bill following its unsuccessful High Court defence of its refusal to permit theacquisition by the Kerry Group of Breeo, the consumer foods company formed following the restructuring of Dairygold.

THE intervention of Tánaiste Mary Coughlan was sought yesterday to have the Competition Authority drop its Supreme Court appeal against a High Court decision allowing the Kerry Group takeover of Breeo Foods.

The High Court ruling on Kerry Group’s takeover of Breeo Foods brands is to be appealed.

THE Competition Authority announced yesterday it had appealed a High Court decision relating to Kerry Group’s takeover of the Breeo Foods consumer brands.

THE Dublin market finished up yesterday despite a mixed day for the financial stocks. The ISEQ index closed up 23.69 points at 2,182.36.

Food giant Kerry Group has today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Breeo Foods, a subsidiary of Irish-based Reox Holdings plc.

GALTEE’S parent company Breeo has insisted it had “no intention to deceive customers” by branding a US-sold breakfast hamper as the Full Irish — despite the ingredients being sourced entirely from abroad.

THE deterioration in the trading outlook for both Dairygold Co-op and Reox Holdings has raised major concerns among farmers.

THE High Court has overturned the competition watchdog’s ruling preventing the Kerry Group’s original €165m takeover over of Breeo Foods consumer brands.

JERRY Henchy’s removal first as boss of Dairygold in January 2009 and then as chief executive of Reox yesterday points to a deep crisis within the overall group.

FORMER boss of Dairygold Co-op Jerry Henchy has been removed as chief executive of Reox Holdings, which was spun out from the dairy operation in 2006.

REOX Holdings has seen operating profits plunge from e20.8 million to e5.6m in the year to September 30, 2008.

KERRY Group is set to challenge the ruling from the Competition Authority that blocks its €165 million purchase of the food brands owned by Reox, the Dairygold spin-off.

PORK products recalled by Kerry Group alone have been estimated at €4m to €5m of value, on a per week basis.

ALL the necessary controls are now in place to enable the restoration of Irish pork and bacon supplies to consumers.

A HUGE blow to the Irish pigmeat sector was how the Irish Association of Pigmeat Processors described the crisis.

LEGAL proceedings have been initiated in the High Court by the managing director of Carraighdubh Holdings Ltd, Michel Hogan, aimed at preventing Reox Holdings plc, formerly Dairygold, from confirming his dismissal or from replacing him.

Kerry Group has filed a Notice of Appeal in the High Court against the decision of the Competition Authority to prohibit the group’s proposed acquisition of Breeo Foods, a subsidiary of Irish-based Reox Holdings plc.

AS FOOD costs start to rise for the first time in decades any proposition claiming to lead to cheaper food prices is hard to resist.

REOX may be forced back into the marketplace to seek a repeat deal offering the “compelling value” which had swung its decision to sell its Breeo division to Kerry Group.

THE blocking of the Kerry bid for Breeo Foods caught a lot of people off guard, not least Kerry Group and Reox Holdings, the owners of Breeo.

CAPVEST, the British-based specialistprivate equity firm rumoured to have been in the bidding to buy Breeo Foods, sold to Kerry Group for €165m, has announced the sale of the Foodvest Group to Lion Capital for a sum of over €1.26 billion.

Kerry Group today announced its agreement, subject to regulatory approval, to acquire Breeo Foods, a subsidiary of Irish-based Reox Holdings.

WITH fears growing that the world economy is heading for recession, looking at the share prospects, or indeed the outlook, for the Irish food sector could hardly be described as a tantalising prospect.

REOX Holdings is close to a deal with Kerry Group, worth in the region of €170 million, for the sale of its Irish-based consumer foods division, run by its Breeo Foods subsidiary.

ION Equity is in talks with Reox Holdings that could lead to the €200 million purchase of its consumer brands that include Galtee, Dairygold, Mitchelstown, Shaws and Calvita.

TWENTY workers who make cheese products including Calvita at a factory in Co Cork are to be made redundant after the owners decided to shut the plant, it was announced last night.

IAWS, one of the country’s leading convenience food groups, has been linked to a €150m buyout of the consumer brands formerly owned by Dairygold Co-op.

THE possible sale of the Irish consumer foods business of Breeo Foods could realise more than €200 million, industry sources predicted yesterday.

SUPPLIERS to supermarkets will struggle to sustain their margins as the big players in the Irish retail sector fight for market share.

CONSUMERS have been urged to boycott the Galtee, Shaws and Roscrea brands amid claims they contain non-Irish pigmeat.

Dairy business Dale Farm in the North has expanded its business into the Republic, it was announced today.

THE owners of the former Galtee meat plant were last night holding crisis meetings with 170 workers to try to avert disruptive strike action, due to begin this morning.

UP to 170 Dairygold workers are to begin strike action next Wednesday in a dispute with the company over severance terms for workers and the way it is re-assigning its staff.

A PUBLIC meeting will be held in Mitchelstown tonight in a bid to save the former Galtee meats plant from closure with the loss of 70 jobs.

THE former Galtee meats plant in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, is to be closed over the coming months with the loss of 70 jobs.

70 jobs are to go in County Cork.

Fifty Irish firms will take part in the biggest food and drinks trade event this year at Croke Park.

Yesterday’s planned industrial action at Breeo Foods in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, was averted after both sides agreed to take the matter to the Labour Relations Commission.