ONE MORE THING:FARMERS ARE normally such a bolshie lot that you wonder why it took so long for them to get agitated by the way investment group One51 was being run.
Maybe it was a sense of loyalty to Philip Lynch, who had done well by them during his time in charge of the old IAWS.
Or maybe it was their faith in Denis Buckley, chairman of Kerry Group, arguably the most successful food company to come out of Ireland.
One51 has generated losses of more than €300 million in the past three years while the value of its shares has declined by 80 per cent since 2007.
Its profit this year will again decline and it has admitted to making several bad investments.
The farmers who make up a large cohort of the shareholder base should be baying for blood.
Instead, it was left to former bank boss Mike Soden, accountant David Coyle and businessman – and ex-One51 employee – Gerry Killen to bang the drum loudly for change.
If the government or EU reduced farm payments or subsidies to the extent of One51’s losses, there’d be tractors up and down Kildare Street.
Wexford farmer Peter Byrne did put himself forward for the board, but was defeated.
One51 has 11 board members. Just one – Guy Hallifax of the Co-Operative in the UK – can be considered new blood, having been appointed last November.
Non-executive director Eithne Fitzgerald (left), a lawyer with AL Goodbody who heads the nominations committee, said the already large size of the board was one of the reasons why it did not support Byrne’s election.
This might be true but One51’s board needs new faces.
One51 has an interim chief executive, a lame duck board and a cupboard full of tarnished investments. It needs change.
Who better than the agri-related shareholder base to drive that process?
