THE BOARD of DCC has remained unrepentant in the face of shareholder criticisms of its conduct following the Supreme Court's ruling against the company's former executive chairman, Jim Flavin, in the DCC/Fyffes insider trading case, writes Ciarán Brennan.

At its annual general meeting yesterday a number of shareholders accused the board of giving "the two fingers" to the highest court in the land in relation to its support for Mr Flavin, who was found by the Supreme Court last summer to have engaged in illegal share dealing when selling Fyffes shares on behalf of DCC.

"The conduct of this board has fallen well short of the mark," said shareholder Séamus Maye.

He said confidence in the board could not be restored and that the company should be broken up, with the value returned to the shareholders.

Another shareholder said the stance of the board served to minimise Mr Flavin's actions. The importance of the Supreme Court decision was not accepted or acted upon by the board, he said.

Shareholder Michael Shovlin criticised the short time it took for the board to respond to the Supreme Court decision, saying it had rushed to judgment in its defence of Mr Flavin.

The agm heard criticism of the decision to appoint Mr Flavin as executive chairman when the court case was pending.

However, a number of shareholders expressed support for the board and Mr Flavin.

Chairman of DCC Michael Buckley strenuously defended the board's conduct during the DCC/Fyffes case and in the aftermath of the Supreme Court case.

"I want to refute the notion that the board of DCC disrespected the Supreme Court judgment," he said, adding that the board made its decisions in good faith.

Mr Buckley was also effusive in his praise of Mr Flavin who, he said, had made a "very difficult, personal decision" to step down in the interests of the company and described him as "one of the truly outstanding business builders of this generation in this country".

He said every member was present and all were aware of the facts of the Supreme Court ruling when the board made its decision to issue a statement to the Stock Exchange supporting Mr Flavin.

Addressing the agm, chief executive Tommy Breen said DCC had enjoyed an "excellent" first quarter to June 30th, with its Sercom, food and beverage and environmental divisions all recording underlying double-digit growth ahead of or in line with budget. Its largest division, energy, achieved "excellent" operating profit growth, helped by colder temperatures year-on-year. Profits in healthcare were held back by weaker-than-expected trading conditions in the acute care sector in Ireland.

Mr Breen said the company was conscious of the deteriorating economic conditions in its various markets. Nevertheless, he said, full-year earnings were expected to grow 10 per cent once currency fluctuations were omitted.

DCC said it expects annual earnings to be in line with those reported last year at current exchange rates.