Dairygold's "non-milk" assets were farmed off into a separate company called Reox earlier this year.

Reox, previously known as Red Box, is the holding company for three Dairygold businesses - Consumer Foods, which is now known as Breeo Foods, the home and garden business 4Home Superstores and Alchemy Properties.

Dairygold co-op members voted overwhelmingly in favour of spinning out shares in the new unlisted plc in May, as it meant that their shares could be bought and sold to anyone and didn't have to be bought back by the co-op at par value.

There are "a lot of happy people in Munster" as a result of the restructuring, according to a spokesman for the company.

Dairygold retained 25 per cent of the company, while 75 per cent is held by over 7,500 co-op members, who received three shares in Reox Holdings for every four shares they held in Dairygold.

Members who want to sell their shares or buy more can do so via branches of AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB.

If they take their Reox share certificate to the bank branch in which they have their account, the share dealing official will ask them to complete a share transfer form. AIB share dealing officials will then phone their order to Goodbody Stockbrokers, while Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB officials will phone the order to Davy Stockbrokers. The brokers will then match sell orders to buy orders.

For the first six months of the grey market, the commission charged by the brokers will be 1 per cent of the total value of the shares being bought and sold, subject to a minimum fee of €50. As with all Irish shares, there will also be a 1 per cent stamp duty charge on the purchase of shares in Reox.

Trading in Reox shares got off to a good start earlier this month, rising from €2 to €2.15 per share.