Fyffes surges on link with Net company

Shares in fruit distribution group Fyffes surged on the Dublin and London markets after the group announced that its worldoffruit.com Internet subsidiary formed a strategic partnership with Computer Sciences Corporation, one of the world's main developers of Internet marketplaces.

In Dublin, Fyffes shares soared from the overnight €2.25 to €2.58 while in London the shares dealt 22p higher to £1.63p sterling. This is the third time in less than a month that Fyffes has risen strongly on the back of its new Internet subsidiary. The shares are now up 57 per cent since worldoffruit.com was first unveiled in mid-December.

One major element of worldoffruit.com is its fruitXchange Internet trading operation for the fresh produce industry, which was formally launched at the Fruit Logistica 2000 exhibition in Berlin yesterday. The new strategic partner, Computer Sciences Corporation, has developed Internet marketplaces for a variety of industries including E-Steel.com, Platicsnet.com and Chemmatch.com. According to Fyffes, the partnership with Computer Sciences Corporation will help worldoffruit.com to develop its online trading facilities.

Fyffes has invested $10 million (€9.74 million) in the new Internet operation and is currently involved in discussions with venture capitalists on further funding. Fyffes has never said how much it plans to raise in venture capital for worldoffruit.com, but industry sources believe that it is planning to raise in excess of $20 million.

Worldoffruit.com chief executive, Mr Alan Holmes, would only say yesterday that "substantial amounts" would be invested. Fyffes has already indicated that it plans to float worldoffruit.com at a relatively early stage.

The world traded produce market is worth an estimated $250 billion annually and Fyffes believes that 10 per cent of this will be traded business-to-business on the Internet over the next five years. "We aim to get a good slice of that," said Mr Holmes.