Irish Dairy Board subsidiaries Kerrygold Company and North Downs Dairy are to merge their operations to create a £335m (EUR401.2m) business called Adams Foods. The merger, which is due to take effect on 3 October, will bring together UK brands such as Pilgrims Choice, a North Downs Dairy brand, which is the second biggest cheddar brand in the UK. Meanwhile, Kerrygold holds a 25 per cent share of the UK’s retail hard cheese market. By merging the two subsidiaries, the Irish Dairy Board hopes to deliver the broadest range of pre-packed hard cheeses to the UK market. It sees the advantages of the move in marketing terms.

“By combining our strengths we will have unprecedented knowledge of the dairy market and category marketing,” says Alastair Jackson, who is currently managing director at North Downs Dairy, but will become marketing director for Adams Foods. Carl Ravenhall, the current managing director of Kerrygold and the future managing director of Adams Foods adds: “Our aim is to be the most enterprising dairy marketing company in the UK.”

The factory facilities of Kerrygold in Leek, Staffordshire, and that of North Downs Dairy, in Wincanton, Somerset, will both remain operational. Kerrygold and North Downs Dairy have both been part of the IDB for some time. Kerrygold joined in the 1970s and North Downs Dairy was acquired by IDB in 1997.

Both were part of the Irish Dairy Board group of companies, which was formally known as Adams Foods, hence the decision to name the merged entity Adams Foods.