Dare to quit Milk Marque

04 December 1998

Dare to quit Milk Marque

By FWi staff

ANDREW DARE is to stand down as a board director of Milk Marque – just as the Monopolies and Mergers Commission begins to wrap up its investigation into the supply of raw milk.

Mr Dare represented dairy farmers during the process of deregulation in 1994 and will leave when his contract expires on 1 January.

He will also retire as chairman of Milk Marque Developments, the subsidiary which has made a controversial move into milk processing.

Dare was a former main-board director of Unigate, from which position he was fiercely critical of the old Milk Marketing Board.

After leaving Unigate in 1991, he moved over to become a consultant to the board, and later chief executive in 1994.

Mr Dare enjoyed initial success in securing good deals for farmers out of milk processors but prices have since fallen away.

His decision to take Milk Marque into processing through the purchase of two cheese processors was seen as an attempt to boost demand for milk and thereby raise prices.

It has met fierce opposition from processors.

• Financial Times 04/12/98 page 13 (People on the Move)