Fyffes deserves better price

Still on Internet-related stuff, AOL's chairman, Mr Steve Case, was quite emphatic this week that the extraordinary valuations…

Still on Internet-related stuff, AOL's chairman, Mr Steve Case, was quite emphatic this week that the extraordinary valuations put on dot.com companies were perfectly justified, given their enormous future cash-flow prospects.

Coincidentally, that same day, Fyffes shares shot up from €1.95 (£1.54) to a high of €2.60 (£2.05) after two tipsheets recommended the shares mainly on the back of the launch of Fyffes' worldoffruit.com portal for the fresh produce industry.

The word from Techinvest and Citywire was that the potential of this particular dot.com - likely to be floated on Nasdaq within the next couple of years - is not reflected in the Fyffes share price in any shape or form. No quibble with that.

Yesterday's announcement from Fyffes that worldfoffruit.com has formed a partnership with Computer Sciences Corporation, a leading developer of Internet marketplaces, simply emphasises the potential of the group's new Internet business, a potential that is barely reflected in the Fyffes share price.

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Add in Fyffes solid trading performance, the product diversification that the Capespan acquisition brings, its cash mountain and the truly dismal performance by its peers - Chiquita, Dole and FDM - then Fyffes deserves a better rating in the market.