By Emma Corlett Business Editor Milk Link is selling its Somerset creamery in a deal that promises fresh investment in the site.

M embers of Milk Link, the Plymouth-based farmer-owned dairy processing business will receive in excess of ten per cent return on their investment for the last financial year.

By DAMIEN HENDERSON MOVES to merge Britain's two biggest farmer-owned dairy businesses, creating a L1bn dairy giant which would have produced one-quarter of the country's supply, were abandoned yesterday.

The merger between Westcountry-based Milk Link and its larger fellow farmer-owned co-operative First Milk is off. In a shock announcement yesterday the two companies said they could not come to agreement over what each was individually worth.

UK-based Robert Wiseman Dairies has acquired fresh liquid milk business Milk Link, bolstering its position in southwest England. The deal, expected to be worth GBP5.5 million, will be subject to an assessment of the volume of milk transferring and net assets at completion.