It's difficult to know what to make of Ned Sullivan's departure from the managing director's job at Glanbia. For many who watch this industry, there is a belief that Mr Sullivan - for all his international marketing skills and experience - was not the man to take over when Pat O'Neill retired two years ago.

Ned Sullivan was unfortunate in that he inherited a company which had made a number of fundamentally flawed decisions. Instead of developing Glanbia as an international foods group - for which he had obvious skills - he had to focus on getting the company back on to a a firm financial footing, mainly by selling off a large portion of the business.

A lot more needs to be sold to get Glanbia's debts into order. Even when that is done, the company will hardly be in a position to become a player of any scale. It will largely serve as a vehicle to pay the best price possible for the milk it gets from the farmers who own the cooperative that in turn owns 54 per cent of the listed company.

Even at 45 cents - one tenth of the price two years ago - there is no compelling argument to buy Glanbia shares. If you want to have a punt on the Irish food industry, think of Golden Vale (a punt on consumer foods) or Greencore (for reasons above).