Musgrave's chairman Hugh Mackeown has regularly shown his displeasure at suggestions that the Cork multiple is either set for a flotation or might become a target for one of the British giants keen to get a large foothold in the Irish retail market.

He used this week's results presentation to reinforce the statement that not only is Musgrave not going to float but it is definitely not up for grabs for any British predator. The Musgraves - one of Cork's family of merchant princes - are perfectly happy with the current set-up, and who can blame them.

Mr Mackeown said a couple of years ago that outsider shareholders would, in effect, be more trouble than they are worth. In any event, Musgrave is quite capable of expanding without having to go to the stock market to raise money, having invested £20 million last year in a new chilled foods centre and expanded into Northern Ireland with the acquisition of some of the Wellworth outlets.

Not having access to equity capital has not prevented Musgrave expanding at a rate of knots, with turnover almost doubling in the past five years to close on £1 billion, profits more than trebling to more than £28 million and operating margins up a half to 3 per cent.

Public companies like Tesco might feel the need to operate at higher margins to keep shareholders happy, but private family-controlled companies like Musgrave (and Superquinn) can operate perfectly comfortably at lower margins than their plc competitors.

Certainly, the family that controls most of Musgrave shares doesn't need the money - they already have a comfortable living from the salaries and dividends they take out of the company. Hugh Mackeown's 8 per cent of Musgrave meant that he got £320,000 in dividends last year, while two other members of the Musgrave family shared more than £800,000 in dividends.

Mr Mackeown said this week that the group might behave like a public company but definitely doesn't want to be one. Certainly, Musgrave's annual report would put many an Irish public company to shame in terms of the detailed information it contains and also in the clear way that information is presented.

But why does this year's otherwise admirable annual report not include details of directors' remuneration and Musgrave's major shareholders? Previous annual reports included this admittedly delicate information.