Irish food group Fyffes has told just-food that it is “extremely satisfied” with the EUR37.6m (US$59.6m) payout it will receive to settle its insider trading lawsuit with industrial holding company DCC.
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In January 2002, Fyffes initiated legal action concerning the sale of 31m shares by DCC.
The company maintained Jim Flavin, DCC chief executive and Fyffes board member, was in possession of price sensitive information that was not generally available to the market – trading information that the fruit group was underperforming.
One month after the shares were sold, Fyffes issued a profit warning and the share price dropped substantially.
Between December 2004 and July 2005 the Irish High Court heard the case. The court dismissed Flavin’s claims that he did not deal in the shares but stated that the information he had was not price sensitive.
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By GlobalDataFyffes appealed this ruling and last July the Irish Supreme Court found unanimously that the information was in fact price sensitive.
Yesterday (14 April), it was announced that DCC would pay a total of EUR41m – EUR37.6m to Fyffes and the remainder to the four fund managers who bought Fyffes shares from DCC.
“Fyffes’ aim was achieved in July 2007 when the Supreme Court ruled that Flavin was in possession of price sensitive information,” a spokesperson for the company told just-food.
“That, coupled with the EUR37.6m cash settlement, makes this an extremely satisfactory result for Fyffes.”
