GREENCORE’S INTERIM results this week highlighted the shift of the food business away from agri activities in Ireland to convenience foods in Britain and, to a lesser degree, in the US.

This follows the closure of Irish Sugar a few years ago and the sale of its malt business. Sandwiches, ready meals, cakes and sauces now account for 90 per cent of business.

In spite of this, chief executive Patrick Coveney was keen to reinforce the food group’s Irish credentials this week – and it’s not all to do with our 12.5 per cent corporate tax rate, he insists.

“We do more in Ireland than you might think,” he says, highlighting how its revenues from convenience foods sold here will double to about €15 million this year. “We are now a large provider of sandwiches in Ireland,” he adds.

The company supplies sambos to Dunnes Stores, Topaz and Spar, among others. “Ireland is also a very large source market of ingredients for the business.”

In addition, Greencore has two ingredients and an edible oils business here and substantial property sites in Carlow and Mallow, both former Irish Sugar factories.

“It will be a while before we free up any value from those,” Coveney says of its property assets, which looked like potential gold mines in the heady days of the Celtic Tiger.

Greencore also employs 40 staff at its head office in Santry, some of whom are in back office functions that supports its businesses in Britain and the US.

Will Greencore consider setting up a food-manufacturing plant in Ireland? “That’s unlikely,” Coveney says, “but we definitely see ourselves running more of our central functions and back office out of Ireland.”