Greencore board faces stormy annual meeting

The directors of Greencore faced a sustained barrage of criticism from shareholders over the food ingredient group's share price performance and board representation at yesterday's a.g.m.

Speaking after the meeting, Greencore's chief executive, Mr David Dilger, said a share buyback was being considered, although its preferred strategy was to expand through acquisition.

The company was also considering the appointment of new executive directors, Mr Dilger said.

Some shareholders who spoke were members of Green Share, a group of farmers set up last week by the former IFA president, Mr Joe Rea, who have pledged to be a "constant irritant" to the company's management.

In a question and answer session which lasted more than one-and-a-half hours, shareholders demanded board representation for farmers and women, and asked the company's directors to justify a proposed increase in remuneration.

Asked by a shareholder why he appeared to hold no shares in Greencore, its chairman, Mr Bernie Cahill, said he never discussed his personal finances in public.

Addressing the meeting, Mr Dilger said the company share performance was a matter of "considerable disappointment" to the board. But he insisted Greencore had a "significant opportunity" to lift its rating to at the least the average of its sectoral peer group.

Mr Dilger said the poor performance of the share, which has halved in value in the past two years, was caused by a de-rating of small-capitalisation stocks and under-performance in the food sector generally.

He added that Irish institutional investors had reduced their exposure to Irish equities and said the company had not secured new investment from abroad because international markets were cautious of the State's economic performance.