Aryzta boss buys 10,000 company shares

€428,000 purchase comes as Owen Killian attempts to halt a slide in investor confidence

McDonald’s: one of  Aryzta’s listed customers. Shares in the Swiss-Irish food firm have dropped nearly 50 per cent since January. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
McDonald’s: one of Aryzta’s listed customers. Shares in the Swiss-Irish food firm have dropped nearly 50 per cent since January. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Aryzta boss Owen Killian has acquired 10,000 shares in the company, worth an estimated €428,000 at Friday's close.

Mr Killian has been battling to halt a slide in investor confidence linked to concerns about its acquisition strategy and the underlying health of its US business.

Shares in the Swiss-Irish food firm have dropped nearly 50 per cent since January amid concern the acquisition of a 49 per cent stake in French frozen food group Picard for €446 million was too expensive and represented a reversal of strategy.

Falling share values have also been linked to the under-performance of its North American business, which lists McDonald's and Subway among its customers.

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Mr Killian’s move to beef up his own stake in the company, announced to the Irish and Swiss stock exchanges yesterday, saw shares in the company rise 3 per cent to €42.62 in Dublin – still a long way off its January high of €75.71.

Aryzta surprised market observers last month by announcing the disposal of its remaining stake in agri- services group Origin Enterprises for €228 million, a move it claimed would bolster its balance sheet.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times