French foods giant Danone has taken its Irish Biscuits business in Ireland off the market, a spokesman for Irish Biscuits has confirmed.

Danone is understood to have decided to retain its Irish and British biscuits business after failing to get satisfactory offers.

A number of Irish food companies, including Cantrell & Cochrane and IAWS, made tentative approaches about buying Irish Biscuits but were told that Danone wished to sell its Irish and British biscuits businesses as a single unit.

Last year, Irish Biscuits - which employs more than 600 people in its Tallaght plant - had sales of £74.4 million (€95 million) and operating profits of €3.05 million.