Dan MacSweeney
**Position:**chief executive
**Age:**56**Family:
**married to Miriam with two sons
**Hobbies:**team sports.....
**Carbery Group****Location:**Ballineen, west Cork
**Employees:**520
**Turnover:**EUR 256.5 million in 2011
**Shareholders:**West Cork Co-Ops (91 per cent), milk suppliers (9 per cent)
The Carbery Group has been based in the picturesque west Cork village of Ballineen since it was established in 1964. But in the intervening years, it has expanded around the world, and now has subsidiaries in south-east Asia, South America, the US and Britain.
The company operates as a cheese, food ingredients and flavour manufacturer. Its recently-released results for 2011 showed revenues jumping by 14.5 per cent to EUR 256.5 million, and pre-tax profits increasing by almost 28 per cent to EUR 8.7 million.
Carbery continued to expand last year, acquiring two plants in the US -- Sensus and Sethness Greenleaf -- at a cost of EUR 53 million. Sensus produces essences and extracts from natural compounds, such as tea, coffee and fruits, and is based in Hamilton in Ohio. Sethness is a Chicago-based business which specialises in flavours for beverages and bakery foodstuffs.
The group also has ingredients manufacturing arms in Sâo Paulo in Brazil, Wickham and Corby in England, and in Thailand. It is owned by four local co-ops -- Bandon, Barryroe, Lisavaird and Drinagh -- and processes 380 million litres of milk a year provided by 1,300 suppliers from Kinsale to Castletownbere.
A recent survey of these suppliers showed that their milk production is expected to increase by 45 per cent when EU quotas are abolished in thee years’ time. This could take milk processing at Carbery up to 550 million litres annually.
The company’s biggest retail brand in Ireland is Dubliner Cheese but, at the moment, it is seeing most growth in its protein products division. Carbery’s protein products range is made from hydrolysed protein, which is derived from whey and made into a nutritious powder that is used for infant formula, in clinical products and in protein shakes, bars and gels.
The company has also invested significantly in research and development at its plant in Ballineen, where there are 220 workers. Carbery’s other 300 employees work in its international subsidiaries.
Dan MacSweeney, its chief executive, believes it is this focus on R&D in dairy and flavours that differentiates Carbery and makes it unique in its market.
“We’ve always been a leader in the implementation of new technologies, particularly in the whey production process,” he said.
“As the business developed, we saw an opportunity to deliver a broader range of products, and we now create and manufacture flavourings for food and beverages which we sell on to companies for use in soft drinks or yoghurts, for example. In Britain, one of our plants manufactures sweet flavourings, while the other produces savoury flavourings.”
MacSweeney said the dairy products markets was “under pressure”, primarily due to mild weather and increased milk production which has seen supply outstrip demand and caused a drop-off in cheese sales. “The dairy market has been volatile since EU supports were phased out in recent years,” he said.
Carbery manufactures 37,000 tonnes of Dubliner cheddar cheese annually for the domestic and export market.
The brand was devised in conjunction with the Irish Dairy Board (IDB) and has been particularly successful in the Irish and US markets.
All varieties of the product -- which include cheddar, mature and reduced fat -- exported to Britain are also marketed by the IDB.
However, MacSweeney is not expecting a recovery in the cheese market this year, due to the ongoing oversupply of milk on the dairy markets.
Kinetica is the main retail line of protein products which Carbery produces, and the range includes protein shakes, bars, gels and tablets which are used for boosting energy, endurance and muscle tissue. Optipep is another brand of the firm’s whey protein products, and is used for infant, clinical and sport nutrition.
Technology devised at the firm’s Cork facility breaks whey protein down into peptides and amino acids, which allow better protein absorption by the body and rapidly deliver crucial nutrients.
The Carbery Group was initially a joint venture between the Grand Metropolitan food and drinks group -- which owned 80 per cent of the business -- and the four west Cork co-ops, which owned the remaining 20 per cent.
In 1992, Grand Metropolitan, which had by then acquired Smirnoff, Baileys, Food Express, Burger King and Gilbey’s gin, sold all its food interests and merged with Guinness to form Diageo. The co-ops subsequently bought out Grand Metropolitan’s stake in Carbery.
Dan MacSweeney described that period as a turning point for the business.
“Prior to 1992, we were an independent, smallish milk-processing company -- a very small part of a large multinational. But buying out Grand Metropolitan was our opportunity to begin to develop the business for the future, and that is what we did,” he said.
A native of Rossmore in Clonakilty and a food science graduate of University College Cork, MacSweeney took on the position of chief executive 20 years ago, after the buyout. He started his career in Carbery in 1979 as production manager, following a three-year stint at Syntex Pharmaceuticals in Clare.
He was promoted to general manager at Carbery in 1988, four years before taking on the top role. In the following years, the company began to invest heavily in research and development, and growth opportunities were identified in the flavourings and whey protein markets.
Many of Carbery’s products are “business to business”, and are sold on to other firms to add to their own goods, which are mainly foodstuffs and nutritional products.
Carbery is also involved in a project with Glanbia, Dairygold and Kerry Group, as well as with scientists at UL, UCC, UCD and Teagasc, which is aiming to “mine” the bio-active fractions of milk. The research could lead to the development of new and improved functional foods.
MacSweeney believes there is plenty of opportunity for growth, and said more acquisitions might happen in the future if there were opportunities to buy companies which fitted in with Carbery’s business plan.
“The demand is there, and we offer a good range of products in a growing market,” he said.
“The EU milk quotas which have been in place since 1984 will be lifted in 2015, and our milk suppliers intend to increase production by up to 45 per cent.
“We have ongoing investment in our Ballineen facility, which is state-of-the-art, so we will be able to cater for that. We are constantly innovating with the aim of bringing new and improved products to our customers.”
MacSweeney said his strategy for the future was to build shareholder value, and to ensure the company’s milk suppliers got “a reasonable price” for their produce.
He added that there would be continued funding for a significant capital investment programme designed to realise the full potential of the ingredients division.
“A key part of our plan is to support people with sufficient talent to succeed in the business,” he said. “There are great opportunities for staff and young graduates in this area.”
