Company director cleared of insider dealing

A company director was today cleared of insider dealing as part of a share trade which earned profits of €85m.

Miss Justice Mary Laffoy told the High Court in Dublin that James Flavin did not act illegally in February 2000 when the multi-million euro deal went through.

Mr Flavin was a non-executive director of Fyffes when the company he founded DCC sold shares in Fyffes worth €106m.

One month later Fyffes issued a profit warning and the share price plummeted 25%.

Miss Justice Laffoy, in a 350-page judgement, said: “Mr Flavin was not in possession of price sensitive information, therefore the dealing was not unlawful.”

Carl McCann, chief executive of Fyffes, said he was disappointed with the outcome of the case.

“We are obviously very disappointed with the outcome of the judgment this morning,” Mr McCann said.

“We are absolutely certain that it was the right thing to take this case. We intend to consider appealing this matter and will be discussing this with our lawyers later today.”

Speaking outside the court Mr McCann said the case was taken with the unanimous backing of the board and had been based on the strongest possible legal advice.

The case was heard on 87 sitting days between December 2004 and July of this year.

Legal costs for Fyffes are expected to top €10m.