Wikipedia

DCC plc

DCC plc
Company typePublic limited company
LSE: DCC
FTSE 100 Component
IndustryBusiness services
Founded9 April 1976; 49 years ago (1976-04-09) in Dublin, Ireland
HeadquartersDublin, Ireland
Key people
  • Mark Breuer (Chairman)
  • Donal Murphy Edit this on Wikidata (CEO)
  • Kevin Lucey (CFO)
RevenueDecrease £19,858.8 million (2024)[1]
Increase £568.7 million (2024)[1]
Decrease £340.5 million (2024)[1]
Number of employees
16,286 (2024)[1]
Websitewww.dcc.ie

DCC plc is a leading Irish international sales, marketing and support services group. Headquartered in Dublin, the Group operates across three sectors: energy, healthcare and technology. DCC plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

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The company was founded by Jim Flavin in 1976 as Development Capital Corporation Limited.[2] 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.[3]

In 2011, DCC bought Maxol's Home Heating company, Maxol Direct, which it re-branded as Emo.[4] In 2012, DCC spent around €100 million acquiring LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) distribution businesses in the Netherlands, Britain, Sweden and Norway.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7]

In February 2015, DCC completed the disposal of substantially all its Food & Beverage subsidiaries.[8] During the same year the company acquired Butagaz S.A.S., a French LPG business, from Shell for €464 million.[9] The acquisition made DCC Europe's third-largest LPG distributor.[10]

In March 2016, the company agreed to acquire Alimentation Couche Tard's commercial and aviation fuels business in Denmark for €40 million.[11] The deal included a 139-site retail petrol station network and supply contracts with 66 dealers.[12]

In April 2017, DCC announced it had agreed to sell its Environmental division to Exponent, a private equity firm, for £219 million.[13] 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.[14]

In July 2017 Donal Murphy, previously Managing Director of DCC Energy, became Chief Executive.[15]

In 2018, DCC Healthcare completed its first acquisition in the US Health and Beauty sector: Elite One Source Nutritional Services.[16] In the same year DCC Technology purchased Stampede – also its first foray into North America.[17]

In 2019 DCC purchased the retail fuel operations of Tesco Ireland,[18] with these being converted to automated stations under "Certa" branding.[19] This branding is a variant of the "Certas" name which is used for home heating oil in the UK[20] and as the holding company for their Esso branded stations in Europe.[21]

In 2021, DCC acquired Almo Corporation in Group's largest acquisition to date.[22]

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.[23]

In September 2022, DCC Healthcare significantly expanded in medical devices with its largest acquisition to date, Medi-Globe.[24]

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.[25]

Activities

[edit]

The company is organised into three divisions: DCC Energy, DCC Healthcare and DCC Technology.[26] 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.[27]

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.[28]

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.[29] Bayford also owned the UK rights to the Gulf forecourt brand. It subsequently acquired Pace fuelcare from MRH in 2011.[30] 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.[31]
  • Pace, aimed at local dealers. Smaller independents may retain Power, Regent, Scottish Fuels, UK or other minor branding signage from the companies acquired.[32]

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.[33][34][35]

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[36]

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.[37]

Flowgas Sverige AB supplies LPG with around half of the market supply in Sweden.[38]

Fyffes

[edit]

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[39] 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.[40] As a result of this case, DCC and Flavin came under the examination of the Irish Director of Corporate Enforcement.[41] 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.[42]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Annual Report 2024" (PDF). DCC plc. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
  2. ^ DCC plc Archived 26 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine: DCC plc history
  3. ^ "Inspector's Report into the affairs of DCC, Chapter 5" (PDF).
  4. ^ "DCC Acquires Maxol Direct Northern Ireland". OilFiredUp. 8 October 2011. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  5. ^ "DCC set to buy firm in Netherlands". The Irish Times.
  6. ^ "DCC agrees to acquire French unmanned network". investis.com. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  7. ^ Davies, Rob (2 December 2015). "Morrisons, G4S and Foxtons lose out in FTSE reshuffle". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  8. ^ "DCC completes sale of Robert Roberts and Kelkin". The Irish Times.
  9. ^ "DCC completes €464m acquisition of gas firm Butagaz". The Irish Times.
  10. ^ "DCC jumps, as company announces biggest acquisition yet". The Daily Telegraph. 19 May 2015.
  11. ^ "DCC reaches deal with Topaz-owner to buy Danish business". Irish Independent. 24 March 2016.
  12. ^ "DCC in 'strategically important' €30m fuels buy". Irish Examiner. 24 March 2016.
  13. ^ "DCC to sell Environmental business for £219m". RTÉ. 5 April 2017.
  14. ^ Curry, Rhiannon (5 April 2017). "DCC makes first push outside Europe as chief executive plans retirement". The Daily Telegraph.
  15. ^ "DCC picks energy boss as next chief executive". Reuters. 5 April 2017. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017.
  16. ^ "DCC Health & Beauty Solutions acquires Elite One". Business and Finance. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  17. ^ "Exertis parent acquires Stampede". Technology Reseller. 28 August 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  18. ^ Daly, Gavin (29 December 2019). "DCC fills up with 22 Tesco petrol stations" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  19. ^ "Find A Petrol Station Near You | Certa Fuel Stations Ireland | Certa Fuel Stations | Diesel & Petrol Stations Open 24 Hour". www.certafuel.ie. 6 April 2020.
  20. ^ "Oil Suppliers & Fuel Management Solutions". Certas Energy.
  21. ^ "Homepage". Certas Energy Retail.
  22. ^ "DCC acquires US appliance distributor Almo in $610m deal". Irish Times. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  23. ^ "DCC appoints Shell executive Fabian Ziegler as CEO of DCC Energy". London South East. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  24. ^ "DCC Healthcare Acquires Medi-Glove Technologies". Medical Product Outsourcing. 10 October 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  25. ^ "DCC continues strong growth amid record profit". Irish Times. 16 May 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  26. ^ "Our Business". dcc.ie. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  27. ^ "New Simplification plan". dcc.ie. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  28. ^ "Locations". certasenergyretail.eu. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  29. ^ "New Simplification plan". irishtimes.com. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  30. ^ "Gulf brand owner dcc to acquire pace". forecourttrader.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  31. ^ "Certas energy opens unmanned petrol station in devon". forecourttrader.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  32. ^ "Gulf brand owner DCC to acquire Pace". forecourttrader.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  33. ^ "The history of flogas". flogas.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  34. ^ "DCC to acquire BP's LPG business in Britain". fueloilnews.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  35. ^ "Completed acquisition by Flogas Consumer Limited of the LPG supply business of Countrywide Farmers plc Decision on relevant merger situation and substantial lessening of competition" (PDF). gov.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  36. ^ Plaza, Pedro (2 January 2020). "Ireland: Tesco transfers fuel network to DCC". Petrol Plaza. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  37. ^ "Case No COMP/M.7161 - DCC ENERGY/ QSTAR FÖRSÄLJNING/ QSTAR/ CARD NETWORK SOLUTIONS" (PDF). ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  38. ^ "Case No COMP/M.7161 - DCC ENERGY/ QSTAR FÖRSÄLJNING/ QSTAR/ CARD NETWORK SOLUTIONS" (PDF). ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  39. ^ Judgement Archived 19 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  40. ^ Fyffes gets €37.6m in DCC settlement RTÉ, 2009
  41. ^ Companies Watchdog Examines Flavin Judgment Irish Times
  42. ^ "Inspector's Report into the affairs of DCC". Archived from the original on 20 April 2013.