DCC plc

The company was founded by Jim Flavin in 1976 as Development Capital Corporation Limited. Originally the company focused on providing venture capital to start ups, however in the mid-1980s it changed direction and became an industrial holding company, changing its name to DCC and floating on the Irish Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange in 1994. In 2011, DCC bought Maxol's Home Heating company, Maxol Direct, which it re-branded as Emo. In 2012, DCC spent around €100 million acquiring LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) distribution businesses in the Netherlands, Britain, Sweden and Norway. In August 2014, DCC announced that it reached an agreement with ExxonMobil to acquire the Esso Express petrol station network and the Esso Motorway concessions in France. The company joined the FTSE 100 Index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalisation in December 2015. In February 2015, DCC completed the disposal of substantially all its Food & Beverage subsidiaries. During the same year the company acquired Butagaz S.A.S., a French LPG business, from Shell for €464 million. The acquisition made DCC Europe's third-largest LPG distributor. In March 2016, the company agreed to acquire Alimentation Couche Tard's commercial and aviation fuels business in Denmark for €40 million. The deal included a 139-site retail petrol station network and supply contracts with 66 dealers. In April 2017, DCC announced it had agreed to sell its Environmental division to Exponent, a private equity firm, for £219 million. The company also announced the acquisition of Shell's liquefied petroleum gas business in Hong Kong and Macau for £120 million, its first acquisition outside of Europe, and the retirement of its chief executive Tommy Breen. In July 2017 Donal Murphy, previously Managing Director of DCC Energy, became Chief Executive. In 2018, DCC Healthcare completed its first acquisition in the US Health and Beauty sector: Elite One Source Nutritional Services. In the same year DCC Technology purchased Stampede – also its first foray into North America. In 2019 DCC purchased the retail fuel operations of Tesco Ireland, with these being converted to automated stations under "Certa" branding. This branding is a variant of the "Certas" name which is used for home heating oil in the UK and as the holding company for their Esso branded stations in Europe. In 2021, DCC acquired Almo Corporation in Group's largest acquisition to date. In 2022, DCC announced a new strategy for its energy businesses. The core of this strategy was to bring decarbonisation solutions for its 9.5 million DCC Energy customers. Various acquisitions were made in services and renewable energy – Protech, Sys EnR, PVO and Freedom Heat Pumps. In September 2022, DCC Healthcare significantly expanded in medical devices with its largest acquisition to date, Medi-Globe. In 2023, DCC Energy grew its share of services and renewables profit to 28% and made further acquisitions in the space – AEI, Hafod Renewable Energy and O'SiTOiT. ==Activities==

The company is organised into three divisions: DCC Energy, DCC Healthcare and DCC Technology. In November 2024 it announced following a strategic review it would focus on the DCC energy business and dispose of the Healthcare and Technology businesses. Certas Energy Retail Europe incorporated in Ireland own and operate 800 retail forecourts in France, Denmark, Norway, Ireland and Luxembourg principally under the brands Esso and Shell. The business also supplies a further 200 dealer owned sites. Certas Energy (GB Oils to 2013) based in the UK was created from the acquisition of local fuel distribution businesses supplying home heating oils, businesses, farms and petrol filling stations, including Bayford & Co in the north of England in 2009. Bayford also owned the UK rights to the Gulf forecourt brand. It subsequently acquired Pace fuelcare from MRH in 2011. The company is now a major supplier in the home heating market and has built up a chain of directly owned forecourts under its own and other established brands. It offers two petrol station forecourt brands to dealers; • Gulf, typically for larger sites. Early adopter of unstaffed 24/7 operation. • Pace, aimed at local dealers. Smaller independents may retain Power, Regent, Scottish Fuels, UK or other minor branding signage from the companies acquired. Flogas Britain developed as a national supplier of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), either in bulk or bottled gas through a series of acquisitions starting with the purchase of Portagas in 1984, followed by Alta Gas in 2001, British Gas LPG in 2002, BP owned GB Gas in 2012 and Countrywide LPG in 2018. It is the main competitor to Calor gas in the UK. Certa operate in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. In addition to oil distribution for businesses and for home heating it operates the forecourt brand; • Certa, Comprising former Tesco Pay@pump stations acquired in 2020 Swea Energi Holding AB (acquired in 2011) is a heating oil and fuel distributor operating in Sweden. Qstar Försäljning AB (acquired in 2014) operates a network of over 300 unstaffed petrol station forecourts in Sweden and is a supplier for 72 dealer owned sites operated under the Bilisten brand. Flowgas Sverige AB supplies LPG with around half of the market supply in Sweden. ==Fyffes==

The company was embroiled in a controversy over the issue of insider trading in Fyffes plc, the Irish fruit importing company in which a subsidiary of DCC, Lotus Green, held a stake which was sold in the year 2000. In 2002 Fyffes sued DCC over the sale of its stake in the company. The case was tried in the Irish High Court from December 2004 until July 2005, and on 21 December 2005 judgement was handed down. DCC was cleared of insider trading, although it was found to have been acting as a "single entity" with Lotus Green and Jim Flavin with regards to the sale of the shares. Fyffes appealed to the Supreme Court of Ireland and, in a judgement on 27 July 2007, the Supreme Court overturned the High Court's verdict and ruled that the documents that had been in Flavin's possession when DCC sold the shares had indeed been price sensitive. In April 2008, Fyffes settled its case against DCC for an amount of €37.6 million. As a result of this case, DCC and Flavin came under the examination of the Irish Director of Corporate Enforcement. In January 2010, The report of the High Court Inspector into the affairs of DCC plc was published. The Director of Corporate Enforcement concluded that no further action was warranted by his Office. ==See also==