Shares in courier firm DX fell 11% on Monday morning after it said that Tuffnells Parcels Express submitted the claim in the High Court on Friday “in relation to confidential competitor information being obtained by DX in the past”.
DX Group said: “Matters referred to in the claim were subject to a corporate governance inquiry and investigation by DX, the conclusions of which were reported by the company in an announcement made on 20 September 2022.”
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould said: “Industrial espionage has rarely sounded more prosaic although the consequences for delivery and logistics firm DX, if the claims from Sheffield-based rival Tuffnells are proven at the High Court, could be anything but.
“According to newspaper reports DX employees, formerly of Tuffnells, conspired to obtain customer service receipts from the latter. The £50 payments offered to ‘Pat’ the delivery driver in exchange for the confidential corporate information make it sound like an off-the-wall episode in the life of Greendale’s favourite postie.
“DX has put out the expected robust defence and the company has already conducted a corporate governance investigation into the matter which resulted in a shake-up of its senior management and a long suspension for the shares.
“The company desperately needs to move on from the scandal and continue to capitalise on the progress it made during the pandemic when there was a sizeable increase in demand for parcel deliveries. Previously the company had a chequered history as a listed firm, littered with profit warnings and dividend cuts, so it is important to clean up this mess as soon as it can.”
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