Ready to go

THE FRIDAY INTERVIEW: David Dilger, GreencoreA little more than 24 hours after he announced his plan to step down as Greencore's chief executive, David Dilger is positively beaming. "This is going to be the best handover you have ever seen," he says with a large grin while leaning back in a leather chair in his seventh floor office on Earlsfort Terrace. Dilger (51) will pass the baton over to finance chief Patrick Coveney at the end of March after 17 years with the food group.

He insists that now is the right time to go. "The business is absolutely flying," he says. "We're firing on all cylinders; we've rebuilt the balance sheet and, having spent a long time rationalising what we had and turning it into a high-performing convenience foods company, in recent months it became clear that there's another move to make.

"We have the financial ability to move this group on in a very significant way. It became clear to me that the leader who plans the next steps should be responsible and accountable for delivering that plan."

The next move, he says, probably involves a major deal in the UK for its convenience foods arm. Greencore also has its eye on taking that business to the United States. There's also 1,000 acres of prime land to be developed in Britain and Ireland.

According to Dilger, a five-year commitment was required. "It was in neither Greencore's interests nor mine that I do that," he says. "It was clear to me that we had to change."

Above all else, Dilger didn't want to get the dreaded tap on the shoulder from the chairman. "Many CEOs stay too long and I don't want to be one of those. It would be a horrible way to end what's been a terrific buzz."

Followers of Greencore might be surprised to hear him describe his time at the helm of the food group in such glowing terms. His 12-year stint as Greencore's boss has had its share of lows.

He was often the subject of highly personal abuse from sugar beet producers at annual meetings, particularly after the decision to wind up Irish Sugar.

He also presided over a disastrous foray into the US sugar market in the 1990s that cost Greencore about €40 million, seen a chairman (Bernie Cahill) ousted by a disgruntled shareholder and had to take the Government to court to secure €130 million compensation from the EU for its withdrawal from the sugar regime.

Dilger has also had to endure endless speculation about Greencore's future as a public company due to the presence first of Dermot Desmond and latterly property developer Liam Carroll on its shareholder register.

Dilger sighs, shakes his head slightly, thinks for a moment, and then dismisses the notion that his time with Greencore was like a rollercoaster ride.

"That might have been your perception but it's not mine," he says matter-of-factly. "There was not a single low point during my time at Greencore."

"Was everything smooth? No. And I'm not suggesting that we did everything correctly but we have transformed this business."

The angst from farmers was nothing more than a group of suppliers seeking to "enrich themselves" at Greencore's expense, he says. "None of it made the remotest impression on the management of the group."

Similarly, having Liam Carroll hovering in the background made no difference to him. "You learn to focus on the things that you can control and on your job," he explains. "Public companies don't pick their shareholders."

He says he was "sorry" to see Bernie Cahill's re-election as chairman blocked by Dermot Desmond's IIU at its 2001 agm. "It didn't need to happen that way," he says. "If the shareholders had expressed their view to the board, the same objective could have been achieved."

On the Imperial Holly investment in the US, Dilger says that, with the "benefit of hindsight", Greencore should have given it a wide berth. "None of us should pretend that we can always get it right."

Dilger doesn't do regrets. "There's no point; you've just got to keep going."

There have also been many highs. The €670 million acquisition of Hazlewood in 2001 was transformational and helped earn him an honorary CBE two years ago from the British government. "I'm not one for honours and titles but if they are good enough to award it to you, it's good grace to accept it."

When Dilger took the helm in 1995, Greencore was primarily a sugar and flour producer. It is now the world's biggest sandwich maker, producing about 200 million a year.

Greencore also makes one out of every three Christmas cakes eaten in Britain annually and produces ready meals, sauces and mineral water. It's a high volume, low margin business. It achieved an operating profit this year of €65 million on turnover of €933 million.

Ready meals would not feature high on a list of suggested foods from dieticians but Dilger says Greencore has tapped a vast market that will keep growing. "The way that people live their lives has created a demand for our industry," he says. "There's is absolutely nothing that's going to change that demographic."

And, yes, the Dilgers are consumers of convenience foods. "I don't boast about it but the Dilger family is reflective of the wider society we have," he concedes. "It's very rare that we eat together anymore. I have four grown-up children and they come into the house at different times and pull out whatever they want."

So what of the future? "I'm not going to be playing any more golf," he says with a smirk. Dilger plays every Sunday at Druid's Glen in Co Wicklow. He has a handicap of five that he can't shift and it's driving him mad. "My ambitions in the sport are rarely achieved."

He insists that he hasn't yet lined up any other business role. He is a non-executive director of Bank of Ireland and has previously given a dig-out on fundraising to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.

"I haven't been able to do as much of that as I would have liked," he says.

Dilger says he will be busy but that he also wants to take the opportunity to "change my lifestyle and quality of life".

Twenty-five years as a senior executive with Woodchester, Food Industries plc and Greencore, have, he admits, come at a cost - notably the amount of quality time spent with his family. Not that he's looking for sympathy.

He recognises that most people in his employ would give their right arm for his €1 million-plus-a-year job and the lifestyle that affords him.

And his legacy? "A straight-talking veteran of Greencore said to me that I'm leaving the group in much better shape than I found it," he says. "That's the way everybody would like to close the door."

ON THE RECORD

Name:David Dilger

Job:Chief executive, Greencore

Family:Married with four children

Lives:Killiney, Co Dublin

Why in the news?He plans to leave Greencore at the end of March

Something you might expect:He is a member of Druids Glen golf club in Co Wicklow and plays every Sunday

Something that might surprise:The Limerick native supports the Leinster rugby team and not Munster