PRL Group, distributors of a wide range of foods and healthcare products to the retail market nationwide, has added 52 jobs to its expanding business.

REOX chairman Flor Riordan has stepped down from that position on the company’s board, it was confirmed yesterday.

GLANBIA Co-op is expected to announce details of a possible €400 million offer for the Irish business of Glanbia Plc next Tuesday.

DAIRYGOLD’S results for 2009 show the group encountered another tough year as dairy markets remained weak internationally.

THE man who has been on hunger strike for a week over redundancy terms has vowed to continue his protest through Christmas.

A MAN began a hunger strike yesterday in an effort to force a better redundancy package from his employers.

WHEN Dairygold formed the 4Home DIY brand in 2006 it had an ambition to form a hardware empire which would see 30 stores based throughout the country.

WITH 232 years’ service between them, the 16 staff at the Mitchelstown 4Home operation were never going to take lightly the closure of their workplace after barely three days’ notice.

SOME 150 jobs have been lost with the closure of seven 4-Home DIY and homeware stores countrywide in recent months.

THE downturn in the economy has forced Munster DIY company 4HOME to look at the viability of its stores on a case-by-case basis.

PROFITS before tax plunged from €15.9 million to €1.3m in 2008 at the north Cork-based Dairygold Group.

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

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.

IT has been a turbulent few weeks for Jerry Henchy. In an unexpected announcement he was told at the end of January that his services as chief executive of Dairygold were no longer required.

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.

THE former boss of Dairygold Co-op, Jerry Henchy, has been removed as chief executive of Reox Holdings, yet no explanation has been give to shareholders, employees or customers.

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

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.

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.

THE Competition Authority is currently deliberating on two takeovers in the food and drinks sector.

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.

DAIRYGOLD has had to pay back a €750,000 grant to the Welsh Assembly government, stemming from last year’s closure of its Dairygold Food Products cheese company packing plant in Wales.

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

KERRY Group could be on the brink of taking over the Irish consumer food division of Reox Holdings, previously owned by Dairygold Co-op.

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.

THE rapidly evolving nature of food in all its guises has been put under the microscope for the past few days at the sixth Annual World Food Technology and Innovation Forum being held for the fourth successive year in Dublin.

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.

THE sell recommendation put on Greencore’s shares by British broker Goldman Sachs was a jolt to the group.

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.

DIY AND homewares group 4HOME Superstores is set to hit its target of 600 employees by the year’s end following the opening of its 12th store.

THE Netherlands has been targeted for major development by the consumer division of Reox Holdings, which has made substantial Dutch investments in recent years.

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.

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.

GETTING the operational formula right in the Irish dairy sector has been a constant challenge.

AS a movement, farming co-ops have had an impact on the Irish economy way beyond what Horace Plunkett could have imagined when he founded the movement in the 19th century.

Fears are growing for 100 jobs at the former Galtee Meats plant in Mitchelstown, Co Cork.

THE future of the Galtee Meats plant in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, was in doubt last night, despite an assurance by Reox Holdings that there are no plans at present to cease manufacturing operations in the town.

DAIRYGOLD Co-op has been accused by farmers’ leader Padraig Walshe of making the wrong move in separating profitable activities from milk processing when setting up its Reox subsidiary last year.