Kerry Group and Kerry Co-op’s leading milk price committee are continuing to make progress around the contentious “leading milk price” issue.

On Thursday, both sides met for a second round of discussions with the negotiations described as “very constructive.”

“We had a very constructive meeting again last week,” said Thomas Hunter McGowan, executive secretary at Kerry Co-op.

“There was good engagement on both sides. “Things are still at a very sensitive stage but we continue to make progress,” he added.

Both sides are due to meet again on Monday 2 December to continue with further negotiations.

Value of a share rises

The value of a single Kerry Co-op share has risen to €664 following the latest window of the share redemption scheme. Just over 1,500 shareholders in Kerry Co-op submitted applications for the second window of the cash for shares scheme in November.

On Thursday last week, Kerry Co-op sold about 800,000 of its shares in Kerry Group plc at a price of €112.50 per share. This share sale raised €90m and will be paid out to the 1,514 shareholders in Kerry Co-op who applied for the most recent share redemption window.

The average payout to shareholders who applied for the scheme will be just under €60,000.

“Over 90% of applicants for the scheme are ‘B’ and ‘C’ shareholders. And the vast majority of people who completely redeemed all their shares in Kerry Co-op are ‘C’ shareholders,” said Hunter McGowan.

“Between this window of the share redemption scheme and the last one back in June, there’s probably 500 to 600 ‘C’ shareholders that have fully redeemed all their shares,” he said.

Hunter McGowan added that shareholders in Kerry Co-op could now see the true market value of their shares.