Team size: Six

Spotlight on…

I joined Greencore in November 2022 during a turning point for the company, and after having previously served as group general counsel and company secretary at UDG Healthcare, another FTSE 250 company. Following a number of very challenging years (which have been well documented), Greencore has seen a significant period of change during the last year and a half.

In that time, the majority of both the board and executive team have changed and, as a new leadership team, we have been focused, first and foremost, on stabilising the business. During this time, there were several significant matters to address by both the legal and wider leadership teams.

Starting with an almost immediate restructuring, the last year has seen us focusing intensively on our core business. In addition to reducing headcount, we have disposed of a non-core business in Ireland and have been supporting our commercial team as we negotiated commercial arrangements to ensure these were once again viable arrangements for us going forward.

Now that we are beginning to see early signs of the fruits of this labour, the team has turned its attention to taking foundational steps to improve how we do business, including resetting how we contract with customers and suppliers; and, given the nature of our business, upskilling the business in sensitive areas such as competition; as well as supporting improvement of terms across the board, all in an effort to better protect the business as it continues its journey back to growth.

We are entering an exciting phase as our planning is now firmly moving into both improvement of our existing business and operations, but also potential organic and inorganic growth opportunities. In our industry, we are mindful of regulatory considerations but also, of other macro issues on the horizon for the industry; for example, the important debate around healthy and sustainable diets, and ultra processed foods.

Developments in these areas may not only see increasing change in consumer trends (likely) but also importantly, the potential for legislative intervention. The legal team will be heavily involved in supporting the business through such change, both as the business seeks to manage the implications of such changes but also, importantly, as it seeks to capitalise on opportunities that may arise as a result. These may include, for example, changes to product manufacturing; leading or following food trends; and associated growth, either organically or through M&A.

During the same period, we have seen changes to our legal function, adding capability in Ireland and the UK. This has allowed our team to get closer to our business partners, particularly in our commercial, operational, financial, HR and strategy and M&A teams. Spending this time has been invaluable in allowing a relatively new function time to build relationships, both to better support our business partners and bring valuable experience to activities right across the business.