Sale agreed on the former headquarters of Golden Vale

THE SALE of the former headquarters of Golden Vale in Charleville has been agreed, the Limerick Leader can reveal.

The property known to one and all, and especially farmers in south Limerick and north Cork, as the ‘red brick building’ was offered for sale by Kerry Group at the end of last year.

Derry Walsh, of Sherry Fitzgerald Walsh in Charleville - joint agents with Sherry FitzGerald Stephenson Crean in Tralee - reported strong interest at the time. It was being guided at €750,000.

Mr Walsh said “we will exceed the guide price” for the substantial office premises extending to 27,000 square feet on the Kilmallock Road.

The auctioneer was proved correct as a deal has been struck in recent weeks for “in excess of the guide price”.

“The vendor and customer are both very satisfied with the deal done,” said Mr Walsh.

“It is at contract stage at the minute,” added Mr Walsh, who remained tight-lipped on who the prospective purchaser is.

He told the Leader last December that those in touch with the auctioneer included companies considering relocating offices, private investors and developers.

“It is standing on seven acres so there is huge future potential subject to planning for a residential development. It is in a superb, central location on the outskirts of Charleville and between Limerick and Cork,” said Mr Walsh, who added that it was a rare opportunity to acquire an office premises of this size and scale.

“It is a fine building - there is 27,000 square feet so it can accommodate a big workforce. It was being used up to last February,” he said.

After the global multinational Kerry Group acquired Golden Vale at the turn of the century, the ‘red brick building’ became their business services centre.

It was announced in 2021 that a number of staff based there were being made redundant as Kerry Group “expanded and centralised its shared services, such as finance, human resources and regulatory staff, in teams primarily located in Mexico and Malaysia”.

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The building has lain empty for just over a year.

Kerry Group reported lower revenues for the year to the end of December amid varying market dynamics across its regions.

Kerry said its group revenues fell by 8.6% to €8.020 billion from €8.772 billion in 2022 on the back of the unfavourable impact of disposals and foreign currency, while EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) for the year slowed by 4.2% to €1.165 billion from €1.216 billion.

The company said its profit after tax for the year rose to €728.1m from €606.5m.