Mr Willie O'Brien takes over as managing director of troubled Irish Fertiliser Industries (IFI) on December 1st, succeeding Mr Brendan Cummins. Mr O'Brien has been finance director with IFI for 11 years and has worked with the company for 28 years.

Mr Cummins, who joined IFI in January 2000, is returning to Ciba of Switzerland to join the executive board of the international chemicals group, one of only two non-Swiss directors.

IFI's chairman Mr Niall Welch said yesterday Mr O'Brien had made a significant contribution to the firm as finance director and would meet future challenges as managing director. IFI has struggled to make consistent profits and several attempts have been made to sell it. Results for the year to September 2001, due next month, are likely to reflect the impact on sales of the foot-and-mouth crisis and the high price of natural gas, a main raw material in fertiliser production.

IFI has a workforce of 620, has around 40 per cent of the Irish fertiliser market and is one of Europe's 10 largest fertiliser manufacturers.