O'Brien leaves Topaz for senior position in DCC
The chief executive of fuel retail firm Topaz, Eddie O'Brien is leaving the company to take up a senior position with diversified Irish group DCC.
Mr O'Brien (41), a native of Donegal, joined Topaz in January 2008 from StatoilHydro in Norway. He had held positions including vice president finance, and vice president retail operations during his time there. He had originally joined Statoil Ireland in 1995.
DCC has significantly expanded its oil distribution business in the UK in recent years.
In September, it agreed to pay €67m to boost its UK footprint by buying assets belonging to French oil group Total.
The acquired oil distribution businesses sold 1.5 billion litres of fuel in 2010. Even before the deal, DCC was the biggest supplier of home heating oil in the UK.
DCC chief executive Tommy Breen said in November that the company expected a milder winter this year in the UK to result in a 7.5pc decline in operating profit for its full year.
Topaz, which is backed by Ion Equity, businessman Denis O'Brien and hotelier Gerry Barrett, has embarked on a search for a new chief executive.
Topaz chairman Neil O'Leary, who also heads up Ion, said that an appointment to the post would be announced shortly.
- John Mulligan
Originally published in
