Flavin praises group's 'high ethical standards'

It was business as usual yesterday for DCC founder Jim Flavin, the millionaire businessman at the centre of the Fyffes insider dealing affair.

The unanimous Supreme Court ruling against him would weaken the resolve of meeker men, but he indicated yesterday that his conscience was clear. "More than anything else, I'm pleased with the high ethical standards which we've always fostered within DCC," he said when asked how he would respond to those who say he has not been held to account for the clear findings of the court.

"I'm immensely proud of the 31 years of the build-up of DCC and the fine people we have in it and the 7,000 employees we have and the success that shareholders have had," he said.

Mr Flavin was speaking in a phone interview after DCC published its interim results. He said: "We wouldn't be having this conversation today if I felt in any way that any intentional wrongdoing had taken place."

The case comes before the Supreme Court this morning for further directions. DCC believes the Supreme Court will remit to the High Court the quantification of any liability to claimants in the case.

Fyffes has a claim for damages, as do four purchasers of Fyffes shares from DCC. These are: Dublin firms Eagle Star and Hibernian; Putnam Asset Management in Boston; and Founders Asset Management in Denver.

A €50 million provision for possible damages wiped out DCC's pretax profits in the first half, but day-to-day profits before one-off items and the amortisation of intangibles were up 17.6 per cent at €51.6 million.

Was Mr Flavin disappointed to report a pretax loss of €14.86 million on foot of the insider dealing provision?

"Not really," he said. "I have to say as a board and a management team we think this is one of the best sets of results we've reported since we went public back in '94."

DCC's board gave Mr Flavin its full support within hours of the Supreme Court ruling last July, support it reiterated in subsequent statements and in its engagement with the Irish Association of Investment Managers.

So was Mr Flavin surprised at the speed with which the board was able to read the court judgments and publish a statement in support of him?

"I think we noted that The Irish Times in particular has on many occasions deferred to the very high-quality team of non-executive directors that DCC has. Indeed, I think you've drawn your readers' attention to the fact that they represent a very distinguished background across a whole range of businesses at a senior level, and they have formed that view. I can add nothing more to that at this time."

Asked whether the support of the board and his continuation in his job was in some way disrespectful of the court, he said: "We wouldn't agree with that obviously. If we feel we should explain that more carefully and more fully at a point of time when the matter is not sub judice we will do so. At the moment the matter is sub judice."