You've got to admire Jim Flavin's timing: Not only did he take advantage of the huge rise in the value of Fyffes shares on the back of the worldoffruit.com hype to unload DCC's entire 10 per cent stake at an average price of #3.36, but he also managed to do so before Neil McCann gave his packed house a.g.m. in Jurys Hotel the unpleasant news of a profits warning.
It's probably just as well that Fyffes has worldoffruit-com to support the shares. If the Internet trading venture had not been launched in December, then it's probably fair to say that Fyffes would be trading closer to #1.00 rather than the #2.60 they fell to after the profits warning. Remember the shares were just #1.60 before worldoffruit.com was first announced.
That said, Fyffes shares have probably been overly punished by the market reaction to the profits warning. Despite the first-half downturn, the Irish company is a far more impressive operation than any of the big three US operations - Dole, Chiquita and Del Monte, and Fyffes warrants a premium over the American big three given the extra diversity of its business and the potential of the Internet expansion.
Some weeks ago, Current Account mooted a possible bid by Fyffes for one of its US rivals. Despite Neil McCann's advice to shareholders not to get too excited about such suggested bids, it will be no surprise if Fyffes takes advantage of the bombed-out share prices of the big three American firms to make a bid.
Worldoffruit.com is, of course, still an unproven entity and faces competition from similar ventures. But given the volume of business that Fyffes alone can bring to the business, it has a solid chance of success. Add in the possibility of bringing the worldofrfruit.com expertise to other industries and Fyffes looks attractive at its current level.
While on the subject of Internet marketplaces for industries, it was noteworthy that Danone and Nestle - two of the biggest European foods groups - have joined forces to set up an online B2B marketplace for consumer packaged goods.
This is a rival to a similar venture in North America by the local subsidiaries of Unilever and Nestle as well as Procter & Gamble and General Mills.
Add in the announcement that BP Amoco, Shell, Totalfina and Elf have linked up with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and SG to set up an electronic market over the Net for energy and commodity trading, and the potential of Internet marketplaces - on the lines of Fyffes' worldoffruit.com - are abundantly clear.
