FRP Advisory selected for Mona Island Dairy administration

Mona Island Dairy has gone into administration. Experts from FRP Advisory are now working with the company and investors to find a solution for the business, which currently does not have the funding needed to continue operating.

Founded in 2022, Mona Island Dairy is a Welsh cheesemaking label. The dairy plant opened two years ago at Gwalchmai, and focused on making Welsh and continental cheeses with milk from local farms. It also aimed to pay premium prices to farmers with carbon neutral operations.

Mona’s factory opened in early 2023, with the aim of producing more than 30,000 tonnes of Welsh and continental cheeses each year. To meet those demands, it invested around £27million on constructing and launching the plant, as well as earmarking a further £10 million for future expansion.

However, amid tough trading conditions, Mona has been placed into administration. Anthony Collier and Phil Reynolds from FRP Advisory were appointed to oversee the process – and have since announced that difficult decisions had to be made. As the company was unable to raise the funding needed to continue operating, 24 of Mona’s 50 employees have been made redundant.

Collier explained, “Mona Island Dairy has a compelling proposition with its modern, sustainable facilities. Unfortunately, it’s not been able to raise the funding needed to continue operating and so sadly 24 employees have been made redundant and we are helping them to access support from the Redundancy Payments Service.”

Collier added the FRP professionals were now focussed on “finding a solution for the business”. He invited “any interested parties to come forward”.

Following the news, the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has called for support from the Welsh government for Mona Dairy. The union’s milk and dairy produce committee chair, Brian Walters, said the FUW would be calling on the Welsh government for support in facilitating a positive outcome for the business.

“Undoubtedly, this loss will be hard hitting for both the local economy and the 31 producers that currently supply milk to Mona Dairy,” Walters said. “Dairy farmers throughout Wales are facing an unprecedented period of uncertainty, having dealt with the difficulties of a long wet winter alongside the continuing turmoil of changes to future agricultural support and red tape. Compliance with the Control of Agricultural Pollution regulations and the ever tightening noose of bovine TB infections continue to bring great difficulties and extortionate costs to the sector.”