Greencore's successful bid for Pauls Malt went some way towards restoring the credibility of a management that had been criticised for an overly-cautious approach towards acquisitions.

The share duly reacted well to the Pauls acquisition, hitting a high of 456p, before falling once again to its current level of 370p.

But not everybody is impressed with the Greencore management, and Dolmen this week has launched a stinging attack, calling for radical changes at the top. The Dolmen boys don't mince their words.

"To date the current management has displayed a lack of urgency in addressing the matter [over-reliance on sugar], most often citing their unwillingness to pay what they consider exorbitant multiples. "To a point this argument has validity, however, Kerry Group has shown that paying high multiples need not necessarily be a barrier to earnings growth, once management knows what they are doing.

"We believe Greencore is still a buy, its p/e ratio for 1999 is 13.3, which is substantially below the European average for the sector of 15.5. "However, we feel that current management is not best placed to drive the company forward and a shake-up is necessary to deliver value for shareholders." One wonders what Dolmen might say when it really gets mad about a company.