Wexford Beef and Lamb unlimited, the private company which owns Slaney Foods, Irish Country Meats (ICM) and Wexford Proteins, made a pre-tax profit of €3.1m for the year ended September 2018.

Wexford Beef and Lamb, which operates as a 50:50 joint venture between Larry Goodman’s ABP Group and Northern Ireland’s Linden Foods, reported revenues of €340m for the 12-month period.

The group made an operating profit of €3.4m, with operating profit margins at a very slender 1%. Shareholder funds on the balance sheet at year end were €60m. The company, which employed 972 people last year, recorded staff costs at €33m.

ABP bought its 50% stake in Slaney Foods, the parent company of Slaney Meats and Irish Country Meats, in 2015 from the Allen family.

Slaney Meats 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.