Growing fears over the expected widespread outbreak of the coronavirus in Europe have led to almost €5bn being wiped off the value of Irish agri-food companies this week.

In recent days, shares in Kerry Group, Glanbia, Aryzta, Greencore, FBD, Total Produce and Origin Enterprises have all fallen sharply on stock markets.

Kerry Group shares have fallen almost 20% in value since the start of the week to €96, wiping a whopping €3.6bn off the total value of the company. It’s a similar story for Glanbia plc, with the company’s share price also falling close to 20% this week, which has destroyed almost €560m in shareholder value.

Plunged

Meanwhile, shares in Aryzta, the owner of the famous Cuisine de France brand, have plunged over 30% this week, wiping over €200m off the total value of the company. Shares in FBD Insurance are down 13% so far this week, which has knocked almost €40m off the group’s value.

Shares in Origin Enterprises are down more than 20% in recent weeks to record lows of €2.29/share. This has knocked almost €80m off the value of the company and values Origin at less than €290m.

Greencore shares traded on the London stock market have plunged almost 25% in value this week, wiping over £200m (€230m) off the total value of the UK’s largest sandwich and ready meals manufacturer.

Shares in Total Produce also fell sharply this week by 20%, knocking close to €100m off the value of the company.

Freefall

The coronavirus has sent stock markets and financial indices all over the world into freefall over recent days. On Thursday, the FTSE 100 in London dropped almost 10%, while the Dow Jones index in New York plunged 9% to record their biggest one-day drop since the market crash of 1987.