Full coverage: Tirlán

Farmer-owned rural pharmacies are nothing new, but a co-op buying standing businesses from an independent pharmacist is.

By holding on to PLC shares earmarked for sale four and half years ago, the dairy co-op has paid off its de-merger from the nutrition multinational and amassed an investment fund almost twice as large as planned.

By borrowing against its PLC shares instead of selling them at the time of its de-merger from Glanbia in 2022, the farmers’ co-op has made a multi-million-euro gain.

Leprino makes profits in the UK and losses in Portlaoise. The dissipation of hard-Brexit risks means cold financial logic is back in force.

Following the demergers of Tirlán and Kerry co-ops from the PLCs they had founded, rural Ireland is full of well-funded, relatively strong farmer-owned businesses ready for a new strategy.

Jim Bergin is CEO of Tirlán co-op, which has now separated its Irish business from Glanbia. In his first interview at Tirlán’s new head office, he outlines how the company intends to make use of its new-found independence.