Kerry farmers may soon be joining James Bond in having a Martini – shaken, not stirred – as they celebrate buying into a natural cocktail mix business and saw their shares hit an all-time record high of €74.23 last Friday.

Shares in the now global flavours and taste company have surged 33% in the past year alone.

When Kerry floated on the stock exchange in 1986 the co-op owned 80% of the plc.

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After seven share spin-outs since 1993, 64.5m plc shares have been transferred from Kerry co-op to its members. With the majority of these shares still held by co-op members and based on today’s value, this means that €4.6bn of wealth has been created within the 12,500 farmers who hold shares in Kerry co-op. Add in the remaining 24m shares that the co-op still owns (13.7% of Kerry plc) and it values the co-op at €1.8bn.

And it doesn’t end there. Over the last 10 years alone, Kerry plc has paid a dividend to the co-op of €100m.