For a long time after Killeshandra and Lough Egish merged to create Lakeland, it seemed as if the Cavan/ Monaghan-based dairy co-op was happy to continue as it was - with no ambition to expand.

Former chief executive Dan Buckley said many times that Lakeland was always on the lookout for acquisitions but nothing significant materialised. Therefore, the surge in corporate activity since Ed Prendergast took over as chief executive last year is noteworthy.

In the space of less than two months, Lakeland's milk pool has more than doubled to 160 million gallons. The co-op has bought Kerry's Bailieboro plant for €33 million and last week bought Nestlé's milk plant in Omagh for an undisclosed sum.

It's hard to estimate what Lakeland paid for the Nestlé plant but the price is probably related to the current utilisation level where just 16 million gallons are being processed in a plant with a 40 million gallon capacity.

After Lakeland completed the Bailieboro acquisition, Ed Prendergast said that interest cover on its €23 million debt would still be more than four times. That interest cover will be comfortable after the Nestlé deal and should leave Lakeland with the ammunition to fund the co-op's ambitions.