Glanbia


Glanbia plc is an Irish multinational nutrition company that owns several consumer brands that produce products such as food supplements and ingredients businesses. Glanbia is headquartered in Kilkenny, Ireland with over 5,500 employees in over 30 countries around the world. Glanbia’s consumer brands and ingredients are sold or distributed in over 130 countries.
North America is the company’s largest market, and it also has a presence in Europe, Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Glanbia's primary listing is on Euronext Dublin. Glanbia comprises three divisions: Glanbia Nutritionals, Glanbia Performance Nutrition and Joint Ventures.
Given the company's origins in the co-operative movement, farmer-suppliers of the company retain a significant interest in the company. Tirlán remains the largest shareholder in Glanbia plc. as of 2022 and retains the right to nominate a number of non-executive directors to the board of the company in line with their mutual Relationship Agreement.

Post 1960s dairy consolidation

Dairy products have long formed the backbone of Ireland's agricultural sector, and by the early 19th century the country was amongst the world's largest producers. In 1848, Ireland accounted for two thirds of butter imports into the port of London. Irish butter came under pressure by competitors modernising their systems with newly developed cream separators. As a consequence, Irish butter exports to London dramatically fell in the early 1880s.
The new technologies fundamentally transformed the country's dairy sector, which had been operated by independent farmers. In order to support the cost of new equipment, dairy farmers grouped together to build centralised processing facilities – known as 'creameries'. In the late 1880s, farmers adopted the cooperative format, often to enter into direct competition with the private creameries. Farmers who supplied milk to the co-ops were better served than those who sold it to the private creameries. In time, most of those businesses found that they were unable to compete with the farmer co-operatives, and many sold their premises and businesses to the co-ops.
The numbers of creameries increased substantially by 1900, and by the eve of World War I, the country counted nearly 800 plants. In spite of the scarcities, political unrest and violent incidents, the World War I era had been a prosperous period for farmers. The crisis in the country's agricultural market following the war led to a large number of creameries to shut down.
Government policy in the 1920s further consolidated the dairy market. The number of creameries was reduced to 17 large-scale facilities in the years following World War II. At the same time, the number of cooperatives in Ireland had shrunk back to fewer than 220. Butter remained the Irish dairy industry's core product, accounting for the majority of the creameries' production.
Image:Cow female black white.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Holstein cow, the dominant breed in industrialised dairying todayThe members of five co-operatives agreed to join forces and become Waterford Co-operative Society Limited in 1964. The formation of Waterford Co-operative in 1964 was the first of the major amalgamations and it was the beginning of a story that would be repeated throughout Ireland over the next 40 years. The size of the co-operative gave them the opportunity to produce a bigger range of products. With its head start, Waterford was able to grow and a decade later, in 1974, this scale of operation would help in winning the French Yoplait franchise to produce the prestige range of yogurts at Inch, County Wexford – an association that continues to this day. Waterford continued growing throughout the 1970s, amalgamating with a number of other, smaller creameries.
In the meantime, 25 other cooperatives agreed to merge to establish the Avonmore Creameries Federation by 1966. The Ballyhale C.D.S. 100 year anniversary booklet records that a federation of 25 Co-op Creameries originally emerged in January 1965 under the umbrella of Avonmore Creameries Ltd., that shares were taken in the new entity by the society and that in following years a Ballyragget milk processing factory was built. Ireland entered the Common Market in 1970. The first bulk milk collections took place from 1973, when the amalgamation was formalised. Ballyhale C.D.S. became one of 20 members of Avonmore Farmers Ltd.; the other founding members being Castlehale, Mullinavat, Iverk, Piltown, Carrigeen, Kilmacow, Ballyragget, South Tipperary, Monastarevan, Muckalee, Barrowvale, Kells, Windgap, Brandonvale, Bennetsbridge, Castlecomer, Freshford, Donaghmore and Fennor. According to Glanbia Collections in Kilkenny Archives at St Kieran's College, Kilkenny, the Avonmore Coop brand was created through the merger of the Village Creameries that are included among their archives for:
  • Ballingarry Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Ballyhale Co-Operative Creamery Dairy Society Ltd.
  • Ballypatrick Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Avonmore Creameries Ltd.
  • Ballyragget Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Bennettsbridge Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Callan Co-op Creamery and Dairy Society Ltd.
  • Castlehale Co-Operative Dairy Society Ltd.
  • Castlecomer Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Donaghmore Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Dungarvan Co Waterford Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Freshford Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Glenmore, County Kilkenny Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Graiguecullen, County Carlow Corn & Coal Co. Ltd.
  • IDA Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Kells, County Kilkenny Co-Operative Agricultural & Dairy Society Ltd.
  • Kilmanagh, County Kilkenny Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Kilkenny City Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Leinster Milk Producers Association Ltd.
  • Loughcullen County Kilkenny Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Miloko Co-Operative Society Ltd.
  • Knockavendagh & Moyglass Killenaule Co-Operative Creamery Society Ltd.
  • Muckalee County Kilkenny Co-Operative Dairy Society Ltd.
  • Mullinavat Co-Operative Creamery Society Ltd.
  • Piltown Co-Operative Society Ltd.
  • Slieverue Co-Operative Creamery Ltd.
  • Shelbourne Co-Operative Agriculture Society Ltd.
  • Windgap Co-Operative Dairy Society Ltd.
  • Letterkenny Timber Co. Ltd.
  • The Bacon Company of Ireland
  • Inch Creamery
  • Barrowvale, Goresbridge Creamery
Backed by the British dairy giant Unigate, the new federation began the construction of a new multi-purpose dairy plant in Ballyragget, County Kilkenny. The plant was the biggest processing facility in Europe at that time. Today, the Ballyragget facility is the largest integrated dairy site in Europe, processing about 20% of the Irish milk pool. Avonmore originally focused on the production of butter and powdered skim milk. On 1 September 1973, 20 societies amalgamated, thus creating Avonmore Farmers Ltd. As time moved on, Unigate's involvement changed and, in 1978, the cooperative bought back Unigate's stake in the Ballyragget facility.

International 1980s expansion

Both Avonmore and Waterford expanded into the 1980s. At home, both companies established brand names, while Waterford continued with its Yoplait franchise. The two co-operatives continued to add product lines. Avonmore, for example, launched Avonmore Fresh Milk on the Dublin market on 1 June 1981. The two companies, Avonmore and Waterford, went public in the 1980s. Avonmore went first, becoming Avonmore Foods plc on 6 September 1988. Waterford Foods plc was launched on the Irish Stock Exchange on 6 October 1988. Both groups remained majority controlled by the dairy farmers that had formed the original co-operatives. With new access to capital, both companies embarked on a programme of expansion.
Avonmore's strategy included growing the dairy business in the UK and US. They also decided to grow the business through acquisition. Over the next nine years they made 28 acquisitions in Ireland, the UK, the US, Hungary, Germany and Belgium. The major developments were in the UK with liquid milk and mozzarella cheese and in the US with cheese production in Wisconsin, Illinois and Idaho. In the years following flotation, Avonmore also invested in the meat business in Ireland.
In 1989, a year after the establishment of Waterford Foods plc, the Group bought Galloway West in the US heartland dairying state of Wisconsin. The company manufactured cheese, condensed milk and food ingredients. Later in the year, Waterford bought A.Heald Limited of Manchester, a company that operated in the liquid milk and fruit juice business. Waterford also expanded in Ireland with the move into the prized Dublin milk market. In 1995, Waterford bought The Cheese Company, one of the two largest cheese manufacturers in Great Britain. Both organisations were focused on similar growth strategies at home and overseas. Speculation was, therefore, rife as to a possible merger between the two dairy giants. The talks began and ended without agreement in 1991.

Merger with Waterford

Waterford's expansion came at a cost, and the group struggled to maintain profitability in the mid-1990s. By 1997, after Waterford posted a profit warning, the group again found itself in merger talks with Avonmore. On 13 April 1997, Waterford confirmed that it had received a formal approach from Avonmore and advised that the Waterford Board was considering the approach. The prize for a successful merger would be significant: an Irish-based, world-scale food company. This proposed coming together would represent the biggest amalgamation in the history of the Irish dairy industry and possibly of Irish agribusiness.
Intensive dialogue took place between Avonmore and Waterford throughout April and May 1997. On 26 May, the Boards of Waterford Foods plc and Waterford Co-operative Society met to consider amended proposals from Avonmore Foods plc and Avonmore Creameries Ltd. The merger proposals provoked serious debates at numerous shareholder meetings throughout Waterford and Avonmore. Some shareholders had strong reservations and among their concerns were issues such as perceived loss of identity, dominance by one party over another, relative valuations of the two organisations, size and scale of the new entity, representation and weakening of farmer control. The majority of shareholders believed the merger was the right option for both organisations.
The first vote took place on 11 July 1997, exactly three months after the merger was formally proposed. The first vote followed an intensive six-week programme of shareholder information meeting throughout the Waterford and Avonmore areas. The successful merger of Avonmore Creameries Limited and Waterford Co-operatives Society, on 4 September 1997, formed the new Avonmore Waterford Co-operative Society. On the same date, the merger of Avonmore Foods plc and Waterford Foods plc, formed the new Avonmore Waterford Group plc.