All change at Ennis Foods, the Donegal manufacturer of Rumblers twin-pack breakfast cereals which comes complete with long-life milk. The idea behind the company set up by Declan Ennis earlier this year was to provide the sort of cereal which can be eaten on the go or even when stranded in traffic jams.

But getting a product like Rumblers off the ground in a massively competitive market like Britain is not cheap, and now two British venture capital companies have pumped £4 million in equity capital for a majority stake in the company. The holdings of the founder-shareholders who include former Golden Vale boss, Jim O'Mahony, and Donegal Creameries have fallen as Foreign & Colonial Ventures and Sandaire Private Equity take a majority stake.

It is understood that Ennis Foods underestimated the cost of putting a new convenience food product on the market, but the £4 million injection by the venture capitalists means that Declan Ennis will be able to carry out a more aggressive marketing campaign.

Rumblers has been successfully pilot-launched in Britain since last January and is now stocked in 2,000 outlets.