There’s no meat on the bones yet for any potential tie-up between Aurivo and Dale Farm, Aurivo chair Raymond Barlow has said.
Last month, both co-ops announced they were in talks to explore how they could work together to “maximise synergies” for their shareholders.
Speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal’s Dairy Day on Saturday, he described any collaboration as “a raw carcase, it’s a carcase with a lot of potential”.
Talks between both processors haven’t gotten very far and are at an early stage, he said.
“We’ve had a five-year working relationship with Dale Farm, where we process milk for them, a very successful relationship, a lot of trust built up and that [contract] ended this year.
“Naturally, we go back and start at the beginning - maybe have a look at another contract. We put a small team together to scope out that and maybe there’s more in this.
It’s a carcase with a lot of potential
“You’ve two co-ops which are quite profitable, running nice margins that they invest back in their business. You’ve two co-ops with low levels of debt, two co-ops that have invested heavily in facilities over the last two years - why not start there?
“It's different to having a situation where one co-op is more distressed,” he said, adding that it’s a good starting point for talks.
Ornua
Aurivo is a member of Ornua and Dale Farm is not. Barlow said that this could pose a problem for any potential merger.
He said Aurivo is trading 70% of its product with Ornua, it’s a 7% shareholder in Kerrygold Park, Ornua packs butter for Aurivo and it also has a cream contract with Ornua.
The talk on the future of the co-op movement attracted big crowds at Dairy Day. \ Claire Nash
“We needed clarity on one or two issues with Ornua. We’ve sought that and we await their response on that because we’re not going to invest time in monetary sense or human resources - we’ve two businesses to run before we go any further," said.
Barlow added that the boards of both processors gave the go-ahead to talk initially and that they "haven’t scoped anything out".
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Aurvio and Dale Farm to 'work together'
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There’s no meat on the bones yet for any potential tie-up between Aurivo and Dale Farm, Aurivo chair Raymond Barlow has said.
Last month, both co-ops announced they were in talks to explore how they could work together to “maximise synergies” for their shareholders.
Speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal’s Dairy Day on Saturday, he described any collaboration as “a raw carcase, it’s a carcase with a lot of potential”.
Talks between both processors haven’t gotten very far and are at an early stage, he said.
“We’ve had a five-year working relationship with Dale Farm, where we process milk for them, a very successful relationship, a lot of trust built up and that [contract] ended this year.
“Naturally, we go back and start at the beginning - maybe have a look at another contract. We put a small team together to scope out that and maybe there’s more in this.
It’s a carcase with a lot of potential
“You’ve two co-ops which are quite profitable, running nice margins that they invest back in their business. You’ve two co-ops with low levels of debt, two co-ops that have invested heavily in facilities over the last two years - why not start there?
“It's different to having a situation where one co-op is more distressed,” he said, adding that it’s a good starting point for talks.
Ornua
Aurivo is a member of Ornua and Dale Farm is not. Barlow said that this could pose a problem for any potential merger.
He said Aurivo is trading 70% of its product with Ornua, it’s a 7% shareholder in Kerrygold Park, Ornua packs butter for Aurivo and it also has a cream contract with Ornua.
The talk on the future of the co-op movement attracted big crowds at Dairy Day. \ Claire Nash
“We needed clarity on one or two issues with Ornua. We’ve sought that and we await their response on that because we’re not going to invest time in monetary sense or human resources - we’ve two businesses to run before we go any further," said.
Barlow added that the boards of both processors gave the go-ahead to talk initially and that they "haven’t scoped anything out".
Read more
Aurvio and Dale Farm to 'work together'
'A lot of pain' before mid-2026 milk price rebound - Kerry Dairy Ireland
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