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DCC may abandon ISE for London

Wednesday, February 06 10:26:03

DCC may join a long list of top Irish corporates to abandon its listing on the Irish Stock Exchange for London, its interim management statement said this morning.

It said that it is considering whether to seek a listing on the FTSE UK Index series, which would result in the cancellation of its listing in Dublin as its business increasingly shifts towards the UK.

"Since its original stock exchange listing in Dublin and London in 1994, DCC has achieved significant growth in scale and in geographic footprint. For some time, the majority of the Group's revenue and operating profit has been generated in the UK with most of the Group's development activity and expenditure since 1994 taking place outside Ireland. In addition, the profile of DCC's shareholder base has also changed significantly, with approximately 77pc of DCC's shares now held by institutional investors outside Ireland," the statement said.

Meanwhile, DCC said revenue and operating profit in the third quarter to the end of December last were well ahead of the previous year's.

It said the performance was driven primarily by the performance of DCC Energy, which benefited from colder weather conditions compared to the exceptionally mild weather in northern Europe in the previous year.

Operating profit in DCC Energy, the group's largest division, was significantly ahead of the prior year and in line with budget.

The division generated volume growth of 19pc compared to the previous year, principally driven by acquisitions but also benefiting from growth in heating related volumes compared to the prior year.

Operating profit in DCC SerCom, the group's second largest division, was in line with budget in what is a seasonally important quarter for the division.

The business in Britain benefited from strong growth in mobile communications and tablet products, although this was offset by continued weakness in the home entertainment market and a challenging trading environment in continental Europe.

DCC Healthcare and DCC Food & Beverage traded modestly ahead of the prior year while trading in DCC Environmental was modestly behind the prior year.

DCC said that the fourth quarter to 31 March 2013 is an important trading period for the group and in particular for DCC Energy.