By Simon Carswell

Larry Goodman is flying high, literally and metaphorically. As he flies about his meat processing empire in his jet monitoring developments below, the beef baron's business is booming.

Just before Christmas, the Co Louth multi-millionaire beef baron converted Irish Food Processors (IFP), the main trading company in his meat business, into an unlimited company.

The move shows how far he has come since his group came crashing down in 1990, owing more than €600 million to several banks. The conversion means Goodman loses the protection of limited liability at IFP. However, the company no longer has to file accounts, so the low-profile businessman can keep his financial affairs and his future success a closely-guarded secret.

Goodman's empire spreads from its headquarters on Castle Street in the Co Louth town of Ardee throughout Ireland to England, Scotland and Jersey. With a turnover of almost €900 million, IFP is one of the state's largest private companies.

Goodman operates six meat processing plants in the Republic: Waterford; Clones, Co Monaghan; Bandon, Co Cork; Rathkeale, Co Limerick; and Cahir and Nenagh, Co Tipperary. They operate under the Anglo Irish Beef Processors (AIBP) banner. His plants at Cahir and Nenagh are among the most modern in his Irish group and have been visited by his major British customers.

Goodman owns another three obsolete factories in Ireland - AIBP Longford, AIBP Dublin and AIBP Ravensdale on the Cooley Peninsula in Co Louth, one of Goodman's first factories.The Ravensdale abattoir was used for a short time during the 2001 Foot-and-Mouth outbreak for the destruction of affected animals on the Cooley Peninsula.

Goodman's disused factory in Ballymun in Dublin, which is located next to the M50 and Dublin Airport, is believed to be worth up to €30 million.

Production was stopped at the factory several years ago due to traffic congestion, but Goodman is considering reopening it.

He has another two factories at Waterford and Cahir, which render offal from cattle into meat and bonemeal.

They are controlled by his company, Munster Proteins. Goodman and six other renderers shared €138 million in subsidies paid out by the government since the outbreak of BSE when meat and bonemeal was banned as an ingredient in animal feed.

Goodman owns a burger-processing factory at Ballybay, Co Monaghan. This facility and his other food processing company in England, Wessex Foods in Lowestoft, Suffolk, are two of the jewels in the Goodman crown.

The companies process and package meat for some of major retailers in Ireland and Britain, including Sainsburys and Asda.

Goodman also holds the contract to supply burgers to 500 Burger King fast-food outlets in the North and Britain.

The contract, worth more than €20 million a year, was awarded to Silvercrest Foods, the Ballybay facility, and Wessex Foods in late 2002. In the North,Goodman operates two slaughtering plants, at Lurganand Newry, andastorage facility called Ulster Cold Stores at Craigavon, Co Armagh.

In Scotland, Goodman owns another two slaughtering plants, in Perth and Bathgate, and a retail packing factory, also in Perth, about a 10-minute drive from his factory in the town.

South of the border in England, Goodman operates four meat processing plants - at Ellesmere in Cheshire; Nuneaton in Warwickshire; Shrewsbury in Shropshire; and inYork.

As well as Wessex Foods, he also operates food packaging plants in England at Blisworth, Northamptonshire and near Liverpool on Merseyside. IFP also owns a meat importation business in Jersey.

All of Goodman's operations in the North, Scotland, England and Jersey trade under the title, Anglo Beef Processors (ABP), the English subsidiary of IFP. ABP's plants in England and Scotland are responsible for 15 per cent of the beef processing kill in Britain and the North.

Industry sources claimed that Goodman focused on developing his business in England and Scotland in the mid-1990s when he became disillusioned in Ireland. The change in direction paid off. ABP is one of the largest producers of frozen burgers, beef and meat products in Britain.

Goodman's advance into Britain has led to an increase in the amount of Ir ish beef being exported abroad. In the early 1990s, about 90,000 tonnes of Irish beef was being shipped to Britain. That figure now stands at about 260,000 tonnes. Britain is Ireland's number one beef export market.

One source said Goodman still prides himself on his ability to pay farmers on the day they deliver cattle to one of his factories. Other meat processors could not afford to offer the same deal.

Goodman was one of the main beneficiaries, from 1996,of the British government's massive cattle slaughtering programme .The BSE crisis led to the slaughter of every cow over 30 months old. Goodman was paid huge fees by the government for his share of the culling.

In more recent years, he has invested €43 million in his British plants, including a significant sum in ABP Ellesmere. The turnover of his operations in Britain and the Northare now as muchas €580 million. ABP employs about 1,600 people. Goodman's headquarters

in Britain are in Birmingham. Two of his most loyal employees, Gerry Thornton and Richard Cracknell, ABP's managing director, manage the group's operations in Ireland and Britain respectively.

The 66-year-old magnate also owns a large farm near his home in Castlebellingham, Co Louth.

IFP's most recent set of accounts, to the end of March 2002, are the last that will be filed for thefirm.Thefirm was due to have filed its accounts for the year to the end of March 2003 this week. However, IFP became unlimited six weeks ago - in time to avoid revealing figures for that period.

The year to March 2002 was Goodman's best performing since his group emerged from its examinership in the early 1990s. IFP made a pre-tax profit of €41.5 million, a 25 per cent increase on the previous year, from sales of €874 million.

IFP had €144.3 million in cash and a net worth of €193.4 million at the end of the accounting period. The average number of workers employed by the company during the year fell from just over 3,000 to 2,818. Over the two years to March 2002, Goodman was paid €38 million in dividends by his company.

Goodman has used this money to good effect. Last year, he bought the Setanta Centre on Nassau Street in Dublin, which he owned prior to the collapse of his group. His tenants in the building include the Revenue Commissioners, several state agencies and the Kilkenny Shop. He sold the building to Scottish multi-millionaire Harry

Dobson in 1993, after being forced to sell the property as a result of the collapse of his business.

Last year, he spent €88.5 million buying it back from Green Property. The purchase was another indication that Goodman was back to the financial fitness that he enjoyed in his pre-examinership days.

The success of IFP has allowed Goodman to regain 100 per cent ownership of his empire.

In 1995, he, with the help of a number of investors, including Carl McCann of Fyffes and Co Louth multimillionaire Brendan McDonald, bought 65 per cent of the group from the banks who had taken control after its collapse. The figure paid was about €50 million. In 1999, Goodman spent about €80 million buying out the other shareholders.

Last October, Goodman settled a 13-year-old legal action against the state over the withdrawal of export insurance cover in 1989. He had been seeking €100 million in damages.The then state dropped a €5 million claim against him.

With litigation out of the way, Goodman can concentrate on business. At present, the Goodman group exports meat to 34 countries. It is understood that he is hoping to open another processing plant this year, but he has not yet decided on the location.

One of his sons works in the group and observers have noted that Goodman has been introducing him more into business circles. But no one would say Goodman is ready to hand over the reins justyet. IFP's unlimited status means Goodman can continue to expand -but in private.

Goodman's empire

THE REPUBLIC IFP head office, Ardee, Co Louth Silvercrest Foods, Ballybay, Co Monaghan AIBP Nenagh, Co Tipperary AIBP Cahir, Co Tipperary AIBP Bandon, Co Cork AIBP Rathkeale, Co Limerick AIBP Clones, Co Monaghan AIBP Waterford Munster Proteins, Cahir Munster Proteins, Waterford

THE NORTH ABP Lurgan ABP Newry Ulster Cold Stores, Craigavon, Co Armagh

BRITAIN ABP head office, Birmingham ABP York ABP Ellesmere, Cheshire ABP Shrewsbury, Shropshire ABP Nuneaton, Warwickshire ABP Blisworth, Northamptonshire Eatwell (UK), Merseyside Wessex Foods, Lowestoft, Suffolk

SCOTLAND ABP Perth (Inveralmond) ABP Perth Retail ABP Scotland, Bathgate, West Lothian

JERSEY ABP Jersey