Milk Link
Type | Co-operative (Private Limited with share capital 04427868) |
---|---|
Industry | Dairy |
Predecessor | Milk Marque (indirectly) |
Founded | April 30, 2000 |
Headquarters | 3120 Great Western Court, Hunts Ground Road, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, BS34 8HP |
Area served | UK |
Key people | Neil Kennedy Chief Executive |
Products | Milk, cheese |
Revenue | £586 million (2010/11) |
£15.1 million[1] | |
Owner | British Farmers Community |
Divisions | Milk Link, Cheese Milk Link, Milk |
Website | Milk Link |
Milk Link is a large dairy company in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest dairy cooperative and the UK's largest producer of cheese. In 2012 the company merged with Arla Foods.
History[]
It was formed in April 2000 as one of three successor co-operatives to . Milk Marque was broken up after the Competition Commission queried how it set milk prices.
In July 2002, the company bought the Crediton and Kirkcudbright creameries from Express Dairies for £33.1 million, which both make UHT milk. It also bought out the 50% of joint-venture partner Express Dairies in the creamery at Frome. As noted below, the Crediton operations were later sold in a management buyout.
In February 2004 it set up The Cheese Company with Kilkenny-based Glanbia, which had four cheese production sites and a packing facility supplying major retailers in the UK, in which it took a 75% stake. In December 2006 it bought out Glanbia for £47.2 million.
In July 2005 it closed a site at Sible Hedingham.[2]
From October 2007[3] to February 2008[4] there were talks to merge with First Milk.
In August 2011 it split into two divisions named 'Milk Link, Cheese' and 'Milk Link, Milk'.[5]
In September 2011 it announced that it would increase the size of the Lockerbie creamery by 50% to produce 37,000 tonnes of cheese a year, into a UK market which consumes 600,000 tonnes of cheese a year.
In 2012 the company merged with Arla Foods.
Products[]
Each year it handles around 1.5 billion litres of milk.
It makes the chocolate-flavoured milk under licence for the Mars and Galaxy brand.
Cheeses[]
- Cheddar
- Stilton
- Cheshire
- Red Leicester
- Cheshire
- Double Gloucester
- Lancashire
- Wensleydale
- Caerphilly
- Cornish Brie
- Cornish Camembert
- Shropshire Blue
It exports cheese to 19 countries.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/North_Tawton%2C_Taw_Valley_Creamery_-_geograph.org.uk_-_335844.jpg/220px-North_Tawton%2C_Taw_Valley_Creamery_-_geograph.org.uk_-_335844.jpg)
Structure[]
Creameries[]
- Crediton Dairy - sold April 2013 in a management buyout which trades as .
- Kirkcudbright
- Llandyrnog, north Wales (Now mothballed)
- Lockerbie (cheddar cheese) - the largest dairy plant in Scotland, off the A709 near the River Annan
- Melton Mowbray
- [6]
- Trevarrian
See also[]
- First Milk, a Scottish dairy co-operative
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Lockerbie_Creamery_-_geograph.org.uk_-_252563.jpg/220px-Lockerbie_Creamery_-_geograph.org.uk_-_252563.jpg)
References[]
External links[]
Video clips[]
News items[]
- Dairy products companies of the United Kingdom
- Co-operatives in the United Kingdom
- Food and drink companies established in 2000
- 2000 establishments in the United Kingdom
- South Gloucestershire District
- Companies based in Gloucestershire