lse ffy industry produce founded 1888 headquarters dublin ireland key people d. v. mccann chairman products fruit bananas melons pineapples revenue 1 090.9 million 2014 1 operating income 38.8 million 2014 1 net income 34.1 million 2014 1 website www.fyffes.com fyffes plc fa fs fyfs an irish fruit and fresh produce company headquartered in dublin ireland is a fruit brand . it is most closely associated with the banana 2 although the brand is applied to a wide range of fruits including the fyffes gold pineapples and fyffes melons . fyffes is primarily involved in the production procurement shipping ripening distribution and marketing of bananas pineapples and melons . fyffes currently markets fruit in europe and the united states primarily under the fyffes and turbana brands . 3 contents 1 history 2 products 3 facts 4 see also 5 references 6 bibliography 7 external links history edit in the 1880s thomas fyffe a london food wholesaler went into partnership with a fruit dealer named hudson who had connections in the canary islands . in 1888 they shipped their first cargo of bananas to england . within five years the business had become so successful that they purchased land in the canaries to be cultivated as banana plantations . meanwhile elder dempster & company a large shipping firm which traded in the canaries had observed the success of fyffe & hudson and followed suit . in 1898 elder dempster s fruit importing business was extended to jamaica . 4 to protect the island s economy the british government agreed to pay a subsidy of 40 000 a year to elder dempster to run a regular steamer service to jamaica and bring large quantities of bananas to the british market . in may 1901 the firms merged and elders & fyffes ltd was established in london . the following year 45 % of the capital was purchased by the united fruit company of america . thereafter the business went from strength to strength using specially constructed ships that ensured the fruit arrived in good condition after the long atlantic crossing . 5 in 1960 at bembridge airport isle of wight britten norman ltd began trials of their new cushioncraft their name for an air cushion vehicle built for elders and fyffes . it was used to study the potential of this type of vehicle for the carriage of bananas from plantations in the southern cameroons . in may 1969 the company was renamed fyffes group ltd recognising the diversity and importance of the then x number subsidiary companies . it became an irish company following takeover by the irish group fii plc in 1986 fii having been originally established as fruit importers of ireland limited in 1968 . the combined company was initially known as fii fyffes plc but became simply fyffes plc in 1990 . in 2002 fyffes took legal action against dcc plc in relation to the sale of its stake in the company though dcc was eventually cleared of insider trading at that time . the supreme court of ireland ruled in 2007 that dcc and mr flavin had inside information on fyffes when it sold its stake in the fruit and vegetable distributor for 106 million in early 2000 . this overturned a high court decision which had gone in dcc s favour . the settlement of the civil claim in 2008 cost dcc around 42 million . 6 in august 2004 fyffes were involved in a rescue 200 miles 320 km off the west coast of ireland at foynes port in county limerick . four sailors who were attempting a transatlantic world rowing record were picked up in the stormy waters after their boat was destroyed by huge waves . the fyffes banana ship that rescued them had been en route from costa rica with 250 000 cartons of bananas and was completing the 12 day voyage when they were alerted to the men s plight . 7 on 15 may 2006 the company spun off its property portfolio to a separate company blackrock international land plc though it would retain a 40 % share . in september 2006 irish newspapers reported that it was considering spinning off its fresh produce business leaving fyffes as purely a banana importer . on 2 january 2007 this occurred with total produce plc listing on the ise s irish enterprise exchange and the lse s alternative investment market . fyffes itself now just a fruit company moved from the official lists of the ise and lse to the iex and aim on 10 january 2007 . in september 2008 unicef ireland and fyffes announced a corporate philanthropy partnership . the five year partnership funded unicef s work in mozambique combating the spread of malaria amongst orphaned and other vulnerable children . 8 in march 2014 fyffes agreed to merge with chiquita to form what would have become the world s largest banana distributor . 9 however in october that year fyffes exercised its right to terminate the transaction agreement with chiquita . 10 in october 2015 fyffes abruptly terminated a purchase contract with the mayan king farms in belize . mayan king had been responsible for around one quarter of belize s banana exports and employed approximately 1 200 people . 11 workers at the farm protested in fear of losing their jobs . fyffes stopped buying bananas from the farm in response to the farms alleged continued affiliation with john zabaneh whom the us treasury department had named in 2012 as having ties to mexican drug baron joaqu n guzm n el chapo leader of the sinaloa cartel . zabaneh had strenuously denied any such ties but under the foreign narcotics kingpin designation act us citizens and organizations had been effectively banned from doing business with him and any organizations linked to him . 12 fyffes had severed links with zabaneh and his interests in 2012 when the treasury department named him as a narcotics trafficker but had restored ties with mayan king as a supplier after the banana growers association assured it that zabaneh was no longer involved in it and that a company unconnected with him meridian farms had taken control of mayan king . 13 products edit fyffes is an old fruit brand dating back to 1929 when the blue label was used on bananas for the first time . 14 while it is most closely associated with the banana it is also applied to the other produce including fyffes gold pineapples and the winter season melons . it is one of the largest tropical produce importers and distributors in europe . fyffes offer a full range of bananas from loose to prepacked . the bananas are sourced in the tropics from countries such as brazil costa rica colombia belize c te d ivoire dominican republic ecuador and honduras . fyffes carried the first refrigerated commercial shipment of bananas to britain in 1901 in a purpose built ship called the ss port morant . fyffes also offer the fyffes gold pineapple a super sweet variety sourced from central and south america . the third and final product within the tropical portfolio is fyffes melons . the range covers melon types such as galia cantaloupe charentais watermelon piel de sapo and yellow honeydew . the melons are sourced from brazil honduras guatemala and costa rica . 15 facts edit stacks of fyffes shipping containers the fyffes group ripening facility in basingstoke is the largest in europe and is able to accommodate 117 000 boxes or over 2 100 tonnes of bananas at any one time . 16 the company formerly operated its own fleet of ships known as fyffes line . see also edit list of irish companies references edit a b c annual report 2014 pdf . fyffes . retrieved 24 january 2016 . about fyffes . fyffes.com . 2010 . retrieved 18 march 2010 . about fyffes . fyffes.com . 2010 . retrieved 25 november 2010 . peter n davies fyffes and the banana 1990 23 51 peter n davies fyffes and the banana 1990 87 flavin won t face any further action . rt news . 19 january 2010 . fyffes boat in dramatic sea rescue independent.ie . independent.ie . retrieved 2014 03 16 . our partners fyffes . unicef ireland . archived from the original on 2011 07 21 . fyffes and chiquita to create biggest banana firm . bbc . 10 march 2014 . retrieved 11 march 2014 . fyffes announces termination of transaction agreement with chiquita pdf . fyffes plc. 24 october 2014 . retrieved 2 august 2015 . 7 news belize . retrieved 25 january 2016 . fyffes cuts ties with mayan king farm over zabaneh ; workers protest . belize news and opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com . retrieved 25 january 2016 . fyffes ends imports from belize producer over drugs link . the irish times . 21 october 2015 . retrieved 25 january 2016 . history of the fyffes banana brand . december 6 2000 . fyffes our products . archived from the original on 2011 07 11 . installation of 14 banana ripening rooms at fyffes basingstoke . mtx contracts case study . ripeningrooms.com . retrieved 2015 02 27 . bibliography edit beaver patrick 1976 . yes we have some the story of fyffes . publications for companies . isbn 978 0 904928 02 0 . external links edit fyffes corporate website blackrock corporate website fyffes related news at reefer trends v t e iseq 20 companies of ireland aryzta bank of ireland crh c & c group dalata hotel group fbd holdings fyffes glanbia green reit hibernia reit irish continental group irish residential properties reit kerry group kingspan group origin enterprises paddy power betfair permanent tsb ryanair smurfit kappa total produce retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title fyffes & oldid 738208583 categories companies listed on the irish stock exchangefood companies of the republic of irelandfood product brandsmultinational food companies1888 establishments in irelandcompanies established in 1888fruit productionmultinational companies headquartered in the republic of irelandirish brandshidden categories engvarb from october 2013use dmy dates from october 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschfran aisbahasa indonesiaportugu s svenska edit links this page was last modified on 7 september 2016 at 15 40 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view