Ireland-based Roebuck Food Group has sold its dairy business “to an unrelated partnership engaged in the Irish dairy milking industry”.
The group sold its Cantwellscourt Farm subsidiary for a fee of €1.45m ($1.57m) and will no longer engage in dairy farming, according to a statement.
The company will receive €1.3m after settling its outstanding debts.
The Cantwellscourt Farm subsidiary operates a dairy farm of 183 hectares held on “a number of occupational leases”, with circa 470 milking cows. According to Roebuck’s website, the farm produces between 2.2m and 2.4m litres of A2 milk annually.
For the year ended 31 December 2023, the dairy division generated revenue of €1.6m, a loss after tax of €500,000, and had net assets of €1.44m.
Roebuck added that the funds would be “for potential future acquisitions or investments, and for the general corporate purposes of the company and its subsidiaries”.
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It added: “In its annual report for 2023, the company noted its focus on delivering shareholder value through efficient capital allocation. The company began discussions with the purchasers, which discussions have culminated in the disposal.”
Roebuck, a food investment group, sold its Norish cold storage division to the Japanese Nichirei Corporation for €74m in 2021. Its other businesses include Townview Food Solutions, a distribution subsidiary, and recently acquired Moorhead & McGavin, which imports and mills dried pulses, cereals, grains, pasta, rice and flour.
In the group’s full-year 2023 results, group revenue fell 15% to £26.7m ($34m). Meanwhile, operating profit from continuing operations declined from £336,000 to a loss of £1.66m in the period under review.
The loss for the financial year from continuing operations amounted to £1.85m. This compared to a profit of £156,000 in the prior year.
