Wexford-based beef and lamb processor, Slaney Foods, racked up losses of more than €1m last year.

Accounts recently filed for Wexford Beef and Lamb Unlimited, the private company which owns beef processor Slaney Meats, lamb processor Irish Country Meats (ICM) and the rendering business Wexford Proteins, reported a pre-tax loss of €1.3m for 2019. This is a considerable decline compared with the previous year when the company made profits of €3.1m. The accounts show that the Slaney group made an operating loss of more than €1m last year.

A year previous, the company had reported an operating profit of €3.4m. Overall, the business reported sales of €322.6m, which was down 5% year on year.

Beef protests

While not explicitly stated in the accounts, the heavy financial losses racked up by Slaney in 2019 are likely linked to the beef factory protests, which lasted for almost two months last year and caused havoc for the Irish beef industry.

Slaney Meats, which operates a processing facility outside Bunclody, Co Wexford, processes around 100,000 cattle per year (6% of the national kill), while ICM processes around 900,000 sheep per year (40% of the Irish sheep kill) at its two facilities in Camolin and Navan.

Since 2015, Larry Goodman’s ABP has owned a 50% stake in the business. Employing almost 1,000 people, the Slaney group had a net asset value of €61.5m at year-end 2019.