Most of the attention focused on Golden Vale this week has, not surprisingly, focused on the group's possible takeover of Prize Foods for upwards of £130 million (€165 million).
It's an indication of Jim Murphy's ambition to accelerate Golden Vale's expansion into consumer foods that he's prepared to embark on an acquisition which will put some strain on the group's balance sheet unless he is able to reduce the debt by selling assets.
On that basis, it's fortunate that the expected proposal to sell the Charleville milk processing plant to Golden Vale co-op coincides with dairy farmers getting the best prices for their milk for a long time.
Maybe that might tempt the farmers who own the co-op to approve the purchase of the Charleville plant, which is carried in the plc's accounts at a book value of £40 million.
If the plc is able to get anything like that price, it would make it that much easier to finance the Prize Foods deal. Without selling the milk business back to the coop, analysts believe that interest would be covered only three times by operating profits - a tight level of interest cover.
If one-third or a quarter of the cost of the Prize Foods deal could be covered by the sale of the milk processing business, it would make that interest cover a lot more comfortable.
