Connacht Gold, the co-op created by the merger last year of NCF and Kiltoghert Co-ops, has reported solid results with pretax profits of £3.2 million (€4.06 million) and sales of £202 million.

The pre-tax profits are the same as the previous year, but the 1999 results included an exceptional gain of £783,000 on the sale of the co-op's stake in Connaught Mushrooms to Carbery Mushrooms. As a result, underlying profits were up by more than 30 per cent.