Row breaks out in Fyffes case over discovery of documents

A DISPUTE broke out at the High Court yesterday over whether lawyers for Fyffes plc should have produced certain documents which, DCC claims, are crucial to and supportive of its denial of allegations that it breached insider dealing provisions of the Companies Act in relation to a €106 million sale of the DCC stake in Fyffes in February 2000.

DCC contends Fyffes' board did not believe in the first half of 2000 that information about the company's trading performance in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2000 (beginning November 1999) was price-sensitive.

DCC claims Fyffes is only making that allegation to support its legal claim that DCC chief executive Jim Flavin had price-sensitive information in January 2000 (information which showed a poor trading performance by Fyffes in the first quarter) prior to the sale of the DCC stake in Fyffes.