Over 200 shareholders from Tipperary Co-Op attended the AGM last night to consider the 2023 Annual report and accounts.
The Meeting in the Horse and Jockey Hotel took place against the backdrop of ongoing talks with Arrabawn Co-Op about a probable merger and interim CEO John Hunter at the helm since April of this year leading the organisation.
The 2023 accounts show that Tipperary Co-Op made a loss of €6.4M in 2023 compared to a profit of €6.8M in 2022.
Revenue in 2023 reduced to €304M from a much higher level of €421M in 2022.
Some shareholders expressed disappointment and anger at the outcome for 2023 when the Co-Op had difficulties with it’s manufacturing process which meant it could not process some milk it purchased – selling it on for a loss and being left without a product to deliver revenue.
Interest rate and energy cost increases also damaged the company’s cash flow.
Milk intake also declined for a variety of reasons – poor weather and farmers choosing to dry off cows rather than pay high input costs for a lower than acceptable milk price from the Co-Op.
Interim CEO John Hunter was welcomed and praised by shareholders for his work to date in tackling the problems and working with limited options to reduce operating costs.
Talks with Arrabawn about a merger are said to be progressing well and the Board of Tipperary Co-Op is to be presented with the proposal in approximately two weeks.
Any deal to merge would have to be approved by a 75% margin with only Milk Supplying Shareholders eligible to vote.
The deal has a lot of benefits for both organisations as they are geographic neighbours, have a strong milk pool and Tipperary Co-Op has excellent processing facilities and it’s profitable European Operations in France and Spain offers opportunities for a larger entity.
A merger would see the new organisation, possibly “Arrabawn Tipperary Co-Op” become the fourth largest milk processor in Ireland.
A key challenge is to retain suppliers by providing a better milk price for farmers.
