Dilger to step down as chief of Greencore

Greencore chief executive David Dilger will step down as head of the food group on March 31st after 13 years at the helm.

Mr Dilger will be replaced in the role by Patrick Coveney, Greencore's chief financial officer. Mr Coveney (37) joined Greencore in 2005 and was previously managing partner of McKinsey Ireland, a leading firm of management consultants.

It is understood that Mr Coveney was one of a number of internal candidates considered for the post.

Mr Dilger, who is also a non-executive director of Bank of Ireland, said it was the "ideal time" to step aside. "Greencore has never been in better shape," he added.

On November 27th, Greencore reported a 32 per cent increase in its full-year pretax profits to €75 million. Turnover grew by €90 million to €1.27 billion.

Its net debt stood at €320 million at the end of September, a €65 million reduction on 2006.

This reflected a €48 million exceptional profit from the sale of its 50 per cent stake in flour maker Odlums to Origin Enterprises.

Its convenience foods division, however, recorded a 16 per cent decline in profit in the second half of the year due to a wet summer and a sharp increase in raw material input costs.

Mr Dilger is a former chief executive of Food Industries plc, which was acquired by Greencore in the early 1990s.

Since taking the reins in 1995, Mr Dilger has transformed Greencore from being an agri-based group focused on sugar and flour milling to being the world's biggest sandwich maker and a producer of cakes, ready meals and mineral water.

This resulted from its acquisition of UK convenience foods group Hazlewood in 2001.

Greencore is also one of the biggest producers of malt for the European brewing industry and has more than 1,000 acres of land in Ireland and the UK that it plans to develop.

Its biggest shareholder is property developer Liam Carroll, who owns 29.5 per cent of the group.

Greencore's shares closed up seven cent or 1.65 per cent in Dublin yesterday at €4.30.