John Moloney joining the board of Larry Goodman’s ABP is being regarded in some quarters as the business equivalent of hurling maestro Anthony Cunningham taking over the Roscommon footballers. People are forgetting that Moloney was involved in the meat business within Glanbia, so he’s not completely changing codes. Crucially, he grew an agri-food business both in Ireland and abroad.

Larry Goodman himself is 83, an age where most people would either be considering retirement, or perhaps a run at the US presidency – Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg are all in their late 70s.

Larry Goodman, ABP.

While Larry is still executive chair of ABP, and very much still in charge, the selection of a character as strong as John Moloney for chair designate suggests he is putting in place a succession strategy for the day when he steps away to concentrate on his golf game.

John Moloney himself is a sprightly 65. Since leaving Glanbia in 2013, he has been busy, serving on some high-profile boards, including Greencore, Smurfit Kappa, and as chair of DCC and, until recently, Coillte. Interestingly, the chief financial officer at DCC, Fergal O’Dwyer, has also joined the ABP board.

People are forgetting that Moloney was involved in the meat business within Glanbia, so he’s not completely changing codes

Of course, John Moloney’s previous employer, Glanbia, also has big decisions to make in terms of board representation and leadership

Martin Keane is the current chair of Glanbia co-op and of Glanbia plc. However, changes are being made to the structure of the plc board to reflect the reduced shareholding the co-op holds.

Glanbia group chairman Martin Keane.

Currently, the co-op nominates eight of its 14 directors to the plc board. That number reduces to seven this year, and in 2022 is cut further to six. As well as losing its majority status on the plc board, the co-op loses the automatic right to nominate the chair. The way this change has been worded was: “It is the intention that the Society (Glanbia co-op) would continue to nominate a Society Nominee as Chairman of the Board until no later than 30 June 2020.”

Larry Goodman himself is 83, an age where most people would either be considering retirement, or perhaps a run at the US presidency

It seems Martin Keane will be the last co-op chair to chair the plc, and the change may be this year.

With this in mind, a sub-committee of the board, led by Dan O’Connor, the senior independent director, has been established.

External advisers have been appointed to assist the sub-committee in the process to select the next chair. We will watch and keep you posted. If it turns out to be Larry Goodman, the conspiracy theorists will explode.