Indian summer looming large for distiller.

Ian Macleod Distillers, the drinks-maker and bottler, has almost doubled its pre-tax profits on the back of better margins and an 18% surge in export sales of Glengoyne, the world’s only unpeated single malt Scotch whisky.

Leonard Russell, the managing director and the third generation to run the family-owned business, also told The Herald that the Broxburn-based company was investing £3 million in new warehouses to mature whisky stock and push deeper into emerging markets.

Russell said: “We’re going to lose £80,000 in India this year – but it will all come good in the end. It’s basically a brand-seeding exercise.

“We opened a new company in India, from which we are going to import our own whisky – both Glengoyne for the top end of the market, and our blended King Robert II for the rest.

“There is a huge increase in the number of middle class consumers in India. There is a strong brand loyalty in India, but I’m sure that those who can afford to drink Scotch whisky would do so,” he added.

“We’re also investing in China, and we’re seeing good growth there, but I think the biggest market in years to come will be India.

“I’m not convinced the Chinese actually like whisky. They mix it with green tea and it’s more of a lifestyle statement than a matter of taste.”

He added: “The big problem in India for us and other distillers is the tax differential between Scotch and local brands, but I’m sure over time that will narrow.”

In the market for blended whisky, Russell said his King Robert Scotch had become the drink of choice in Emirates and was becoming increasingly popular in duty-free shops around the world.

However, nestled in a glen at the foot of the Campsie Fells, Glengoyne has become the jewel in the crown of the Ian Macleod business since it was acquired from Edrington in April 2003.

With its cluster of 19th-century white-washed buildings and soft water running off Dumgoyne Hill via a 50-foot waterfall into the distillery grounds, it

is easy to see why Edrington was loath to part with the business as it shifted its focus to its core products.

Russell, who said the company recently invested £100,000 and around £3m into new warehouses and whisky stock at the site, continues to insist it is the most beautiful distillery in Scotland.

The company said it had sold 35,000 cases of Glengoyne last year, an 18% rise on numbers from the previous year.

Meanwhile, Ian Macleod’s latest set of financial accounts reveal that the business turned in a pre-tax profit of £3.1m for the year to the end of September 2009, almost double the previous year’s pre-tax profit of £1.6m.

Sales at the company – which also produces McGilligan’s Irish Whiskey, Trawler Rum, London Hill Gin and Isle of Skye whisky – climbed to £28.1m, compared with £24.1m last time.

When asked if he was pleased with the year’s results, Russell said: “I’m having fun. This is a good time be in the whisky business.”


Source :- heraldscotland.com