Glenmorangie Company Profits Plunge 68%

[John]

The Glenmorangie Companys profits have plunged by 68% after major business overhaul.


The firm behind one of Scotland's best-selling single malt whiskies suffered a 68% plunge in annual profits after it launched a restructuring of the business, its latest accounts reveal.

The Glenmorangie Company, which distils the iconic Glenmorangie single malt whisky at Tain, had a pre-tax surplus of £12.74million last year on turnover of £73.14million.

In 2008, profits came to £39.33million on turnover of £112.58million.

The figures were released by Companies House yesterday.

Glenmorangie, which also makes Ardbeg single malt, said the results reflected a major overhaul of the company and its operations during the latest period as well as its withdrawal from the bottling and sale of blended whisky and third-party bottling activities.

It added: "Set against a tough economic background and challenging trading conditions, which affected the Scotch whisky industry in 2009, our branded Glenmorangie and Arbeg businesses performed well."?

"Most encouragingly, trading in our key strategic markets saw an upturn, with increased sales of our brands - notably in Asia, continental Europe and the US, supporting our business decision to increase investment and resources."?

In July 2008, the firm announced plans to transform its business from a broad-ranging whisky-maker to a "highly-focused, premium-branded"? single malt company.

The revamp was to be underpinned by substantial investment, including £20million on increased ware-housing at Tain and the Ardbeg distillery on Islay.

A further £10million was to be spent on ramping up production capacity at Tain and an upgrade for the firm's visitor centres at Tain and Ardbeg.

But the company also revealed that it was selling its Glen Moray Distillery at Elgin.

Glenmorangie's change of strategy was prompted by growing overseas demand for premium single malts.

In its 2009 annual report, signed off within the past fortnight, Glenmorangie said: "The group has made significant progress and is on target to successfully complete the first phase of activity to transform the business model."?

Work on a new bottling plant at Livingston got under way last year and Glenmorangie, which is majority owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy, the world's biggest luxury products group, said the project would be completed during 2010.

Meanwhile, Glenmorangie said it was on track to relocate its HQ, which is currently at Broxburn, West Lothian, to The Cube building in the east end of Edinburgh in the third quarter of this year.

Glenmorangie also said it had invested heavily in product innovation, which was already paying dividends.

It added: "In the US, Glenmorangie has recently become the fastest-growing single malt whisky brand and we continue to increase its market share in other key strategic markets across Europe."?

John

Source: Press & Journal