Think about it. An Irish company buys a big chunk of a US company at more than $13 (€14) a share in 1996. Less than four years later, those selfsame shares are worth $1 3/8 each.

Has anybody walked the plank from this company for this appalling investment? Has anybody said sorry to shareholders for this squandering of company resources?

Not a chance, the people at Greencore who took this inspired investment decision are still ensconsed on the top floor of Stephen's Green House. Executive directors - chief executive David Dilger, finance director Kevin O'Sullivan and company secretary Ben Power - received almost £1 million (€1.27 million) between them last year in salary, bonuses and other benefits.

In July 1996, when Greencore paid £31 million for 27 per cent of Imperial Holly, we were told that Greencore had invested in Imperial Holly (now Imperial Sugar) on very favourable terms. The US sugar industry was a good place for Greencore to invest.

"We're happy with our timing and we see this as a low-risk investment. It will be modestly earnings-enhancing in year one," Mr Dilger said at the time.

Those favourable terms were $13.25 a share and at the time Imperial Sugar was valued at £116 million. The shares shortly rose above $15, briefly making it look like Greencore had made a sound decision.

Then came down to $5 at the beginning of this year and all the way down to $13/8 in the middle of this week. With a performance like that aren't you glad the Greencore isn't looking after your pension.

Despite all the assurances at the time about what a fine deal this was, nobody could really figure out where this deal fitted into Greencore's strategy. Was Greencore planning to become a serious player in the US sugar industry? No clear answer was given.

Within a year, Greencore found itself diluted from 27 per cent to 16 per cent when Imperial Holly paid £368 million in cash and shares for another US sugar producer, Savannah Foods.

Since then the merged US company - dogged with heavy debts from the outset - has had a dismal time with losses piling on losses and the share price plummeting in response. The end result has been that Imperial Sugar is now worth less than $45 million with Greencore's stake now worth peanuts.

Now we are told that Greencore is actively pursuing an appropriate solution to the Imperial Sugar situation and plans to divest the stake. We wish them luck.

Given the state of the Imperial share price and the way the market views this company, Greencore will be lucky to find anybody willing to take the stake off their hands.

For Greencore shareholders, the Imperial Sugar investment is only one element in a dismal few years, which has seen the share price tumble from a 1998 high of €5.79 to its current €2.90. That's a fall of 50 per cent and has left the shares on a price/earnings ratio of less than nine.

Contrast that performance with the stellar performance by Greencore-lookalike IAWS, where the share price has trebled in the past four years.

Sitting on his 11 per cent stake - assembled at a cost of more than €60 million - Dermot Desmond presumably has some views on the state of affairs at Greencore. One hopes that Desmond, who is not known for loss-making investments, has some wheeze to give shareholders some joy. They are hardly going to get much from the Greencore management.