Chilling out

The Friday Interview:For all the rain-sodden clouds over Northern Ireland this summer, a few have come with silver linings and none has masked the glint of new Aer Lingus routes coming to Aldergrove, writes Carissa Casey.

Milk production may be marginally down because of the wet weather but milk prices have shot up. Last month, Dale Farm, which handles 60 per cent of the North's milk output, secured a record price at auction - 34 pence a litre, more than double the price of just a few years ago.

According to David Dobbin, group chief executive of the United Dairy Farmers Group, that's good news for the dairy industry, which employs about 15,000 people in the North, and good news for the local economy.

"Given the issues we have here about growing our private sector, it's pleasing to talk about an industry that is going to grow in value and volume over the next few years."

Dobbin arrived the United Dairy Farmers Group - Dale Farm's owner - in 2000 when it was still struggling to emerge from its previous existence as the state-run Milk Marketing Board for Northern Ireland. It had been deregulated and turned into a co-op with about 2,000 local farmers getting shares.

When Dobbin arrived, most of the emphasis was on commodity products like milk powder and the consumer division was relatively small, despite the fact that ice-creams, yoghurts and the like provide much higher added value.

"We turned that around. Our consumer products division is now worth £100 million which is about a fivefold increase. That has been partly through acquisition and partly by organic growth," he explains.

The most significant acquisitions were of Dale Farm and Dale Farm Ice-creams. This summer the company also bought Superchill, an ice-cream distribution network based in Galway and Letterkenny, to further strengthen its consumer operations.

"The market has polarised into what we call functional foods - yoghurts, pro-biotic drinks and products with perceived health benefits - and the indulgent market such as ice cream, real cream products or what you might call treats.

"At Christmas, people indulge heavily and we sell a lot of the luxury products and in January we sell a lot of the health products. So we're catering for the dilemma in modern eating. You want a treat and then you want to make up for it with something healthy."

Alongside acquisitions, there has been strong organic growth, helped partly by an innovation centre which develops product ideas. Dale Farm was the first company in the UK to introduce pro-biotic cheese.

It has also recently introduced One Milk, a low-fat milk which still retains its flavour.

The company also trimmed its workforce, shedding about 400 people. It currently employs about 1,000. "We did that because we invested heavily across the board. We spent between £40-£50 million upgrading our facilities," says Dobbin.

Dobbin has been a key player in talking to local politicians about the bread-and-butter issues of the North's economy. He led the first business delegation to present at Stormont to all the parties, including Sinn Féin, which attended the meeting despite boycotting debates at the time.

He sees an enormous change in the local business environment.

"Business here had a bunker mentality. Business stood back from politics because it was seen as divisive. The best way to proceed was to keep a low profile.

"If you talked about your business, it could be blown up or you could be the victim of extortion."

When the first Assembly got up and running, Dobbin believes the business community simply wasn't ready to maximise the benefit of having local politicians. This time around, there is a lot more confidence

"To be blunt, I am a unionist by family background but the revolution that has taken place in my lifetime is that business here is starting to think on an all-island basis. The south's economic success has become a role model for the North. We're the same island, the same people, the same culture to some extent, why can't we do the same?

"You're getting a feelgood bounce from the new Executive and you have the ambition now in the business community." Like many in Northern Ireland - unionist and nationalist - there is quiet disappointment at the reaction across the Border to the Aer Lingus decision to shift its Heathrow route to Belfast.

As regards the dispute over the pay and conditions for Aer Lingus staff at Aldergrove, Dobbin points out that the company will have to pay the going rate or they won't get staff. "They made a commercial decision to move here," he adds.

On the future, he is quietly optimistic. "So far, we see in the Executive a strong attempt between the main parties to co-operate and not go back into tribal politics, though there are issues down the line which could open up a tribal divide if either of the two main parties go too hard at them."

On The Record

Name:Dr David Dobbin CBE

Job:Group chief executive at United Dairy Farmers Group and Dale Farm

Age: 52

Family:Married with two sons (aged 24 and 26)

Career:Joined Rothmans in Carrickfergus as an engineer after leaving Queen's University. His first full board role was in C&C as operations director for Northern Ireland and he had management roles at listed companies Dalgety and Boxmore International before arriving at United/Dale Farm

Something that might surprise:Has honorary Chinese citizenship from the city of Kunshan near Shanghai and has learnt to speak Mandarin Chinese

Something you might expect:"Somewhat" of a workaholic!

Outside interests: Escapes by playing golf and gardening. Collects Irish art and loves to travel. An avid reader of biographies, historical novels and spy thrillers