Industrial holding company DCC has repeated its backing of Executive Chairman Jim Flavin saying he made an "unwitting breach'' of civil law when he sold shares in Fyffes Plc in 2000.
A Regulatory News Service statement issued by the company today said the facts "fully support its view that the share sales did not involve any intentional wrongdoing on the part of Jim Flavin".
Mr Flavin, who was a non-executive director of Fyffes from January 1981 until his resignation on February 9th, 2000, was backed last year by the entire DCC board after the Supreme Court found he had engaged in insider trading when selling the company's stake in Fyffes. DCC had owned a 10 per cent share in Fyffes, which was sold on three dates in February 2000, making a profit on the sale of €85 million.
The Supreme Court found that reports disclosing poor trading results that Mr Flavin received for November and December 1999 - part of Fyffes financial year to October 31st 2000 - were price sensitive, overturning a previous ruling to the contrary by the High Court in December 2005. Fyffes issued a profit warning in March 2000.
DCC claimed that a Dutch resident subsidiary, Lotus Green, took the decision to sell the Fyffes shares.
However, last month, DCC agreed to pay €41 million to settle the legal case Fyffes had begun against it in January 2002. Of this settlement, €37.6 million was to go to Fyffes. Four counter-parties - Eagle Star Insurance, Hibernian Insurance, Dreyfus Funds and Founders Asset Management - were to receive €3.4 million between them.
The board of DCC said the statement published today is intended to provide shareholders with a "better and more informed understanding of the board's position on the matter".
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