The Irish Dairy Board (IDB) has bought UK cheese ingredients firm The Cheese Warehouse for an undisclosed sum.
The Cheese Warehouse supplies ingredients to food manufacturers and foodservice operators. Its annual turnover, IDB said today (11 July) is around EUR38m.
Irish co-op IDB, which has its own cheese ingredients operations in the UK, said the acquisition would expand the customer base for dairy products from across the Irish Sea.
CEO Kevin Lane said: “This acquisition is consistent with our strategy to develop and enhance routes to market for value-added Irish dairy products. The Cheese Warehouse complements our existing cheese ingredients business located close by in the UK and will significantly increase our presence in the UK cheese ingredients and foodservice sectors.
“This transaction presents exciting opportunities to grow our business in the UK in collaboration with both existing and new customers across new products, technologies and processes. We view in-market collaboration as a key growth driver for Irish dairy products as milk volumes expand ahead of the abolition of milk quotas in 2015.”
In January, the IDB secured a loan of EUR100m to fund expansion. The company saw sales and profits last year on the back of the growth of its Kerrygold brand.

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