FDBusiness.com

The BenRiach Distillery Company, owners of the BenRiach, GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh single malt whiskies, has announced record annual pre-tax profits of £11.1 million and a major new £25 million investment in the burgeoning business. Profit before tax is up 24% and turnover, at £41.5 million, is up 17.6% on the corresponding figures last year.

The record profits cap a highly successful year for the Scottish company. In the last twelve months, they were named Global Distiller of the Year by Whisky Magazine, the London Stock Exchange highlighted them as one of the top influential companies to inspire Britain and in the prestigious PWC awards they were recognised as ‘a high-growth company flying the flag for the UK’.

In 2004, Billy Walker and his two South African partners Geoff Bell and Wayne Kieswetter purchased BenRiach, turning it into one of Scotland’s most admired distilleries. When The BenRiach Distillery Company posted its first full year’s figures in 2005, turnover was £4.62 million, pre-tax profit was £241,716 and the company employed just 12 people. The growth over the last eleven years has been impressive. GlenDronach distillery was purchased in 2008, the Newbridge bottling plant in 2010, and, most recently, Glenglassaugh distillery was acquired in March 2013.

The firm currently employs 120 people across its four sites.

Managing Director Billy Walker – also a Master Blender and a Master of the Quiach – says: “We continue to make significant strides in brand development where we are concentrating our efforts on the top end of market. We are an independent, boutique business and we see each distillery as having ‘Grand Cru Chateau’ provenance.”

He adds: “We are very much focused on the future and over the next two years we have ambitious plans for a significant investment of over £25 million in the business. This is being done in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland whose support in recent years really has been magnificent.”