GOLDEN Vale shares have fallen again, as the market reacted badly to the news of the £3.1 million payment to the Department of Agriculture following the miscalculation of its super levy milk bill. The group is likely to attempt to recoup the £3.1 million paid to the Department of Agriculture over time from its 1,000 farmer suppliers.

Shares in Golden Vale, which had fallen by three pence on Thursday, slipped back another two pence to close at 60p, having traded as low as 58p.

Agricultural industry sources said yesterday that about 1,000 suppliers to Golden Vale would have to pick up the £3.1 million bill.

However, the collection of the funds from the farmers concerned is likely to take place over the medium to long term as farmers' incomes have been hit by falling milk prices and the beef crisis.

Some Dublin market sources have expressed anger at the way in which news of the Golden Vale payment was released.

The company issued a press statement after the close of trading on Thursday, which admitted that it had paid the £3.1 million bill, but the Dublin Stock Exchange was only informed of the matter yesterday.

"This has done a lot of damage to the credibility of the company," one source said.

Had Golden Vale issued a statement about the payment as soon as it was made aware of the matter, the negative impact would have been lessened, he argued.

The source said that there was "genuine annoyance" that the issue of properly informing the market had arisen for the second time in two years.

In June 1994, Golden Vale irked the market when it issued a profits warning at 4.51 p.m. on the Friday evening before the Ireland Italy soccer game.

By the time the announcement was made, many of the main fund managers were en route to New York for the game.

At the time, Golden Vale said the warning could not have been made before a board meeting which has taken place earlier that day.

The company also blamed problems with inputting the statement into the stock exchange's regulatory news service for the fact that the news was released just before the market closed.