History
The company was founded by Jim Flavin in 1976 as Development Capital Corporation Limited. Originally the company focused on providing venture capital to start ups, however in the mid-1980s it changed direction and became an industrial holding company, changing its name to DCC and floating on the Irish Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange in 1994.
The company was recently embroiled in a controversy over the issue of insider trading in Fyffes plc, the Irish fruit importing company in which a subsidiary of DCC, Lotus Green, held a stake. In 2002 Fyffes sued DCC over the sale of its stake in the company. The case was tried in the Irish High Court from December 2004 until July 2005, and on 21 December 2005 judgement was handed down. DCC was cleared of insider trading, although it was found to have been acting as a "single entity" with Lotus Green and Jim Flavin with regards to the sale of the shares.
Fyffes appealed to the Irish Supreme Court and, in a judgement on July 27, 2007, the Supreme Court overturned the High Court's verdict and ruled that the documents that had been in Flavin's possession when DCC sold the shares had indeed been price sensitive. As a result, DCC and Flavin came under the examination of the Irish Director of Corporate Enforcement and Fyffes may be awarded costs and substantial compensation when the case returns to the High Court.
It is the largest insider trading case to date in Ireland.
Read more about this topic: DCC Plc
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