Donegal Foods, a producer of frozen and chilled potato chips, has received a £1 million (€1.27 million) order from the Rank Group in Britain. The company had returned to profits and was "looking very well" this year, said managing director Mr Michael Diffley. The last published accounts were for 1997 and these showed a loss before tax of £235,280. The following year had been another "bad year", he said.

However, there had been a "major improvement" in 1999 and the company was now "trading profitably". Employment levels have risen from 30 in 1997 to 50.