Supreme Court rules against DCC in shares sell-off case
The Supreme Court today ruled against food giant DCC in a challenge brought by banana growers Fyffes who claimed to be victims of DCC insider trading.
The original decision made by the High Court in December 2005 found in favour two DCC subsidiaries, S&L Investments Limited and Lotus Green Limited along with its chief executive, Jim Flaying in a case taken against them by Fyffes.
The banana company took the legal action after DCC sold its stake in Fyffes a month before a March 2000 profit warning, making a profit of €85m.
Fyffes alleged that insider information on prices had benefited the sellers.
Today however, the Supreme Court found that the High Court made an error in concluding that trading reports in the possession of DCC were not price sensitive.
Meanwhile it upheld the ruling that Jim Flaying was not aware he was in possession of price sensitive information.
DCC believes that its liability to Fyffes resulting from this judgment will not exceed €50m, or the difference between the price at which the relevant shares were sold and the price which those shares would have realised had the relevant information been generally known.
