Emperador set to expand distillery in Scotland

EMPERADOR, Inc. on Wednesday said that it is set to expand its distillery facility in Scotland to support the listed spirits maker’s long-term growth plans.

In a regulatory filing, the company said the facility which handles production for its United Kingdom-based subsidiary Whyte and Mackay Group Ltd., is expanding the Invergordon Distillery to 92 hectares from an initial 45.4 hectares.

Emperador said the expansion was in response to the growing demand for whisky worldwide.

The company added that the expansion will enable the facility to have additional warehouse space for up to an additional 1.5 million casks of maturing whisky. The facility is set to be built over the coming decades.

“This expansion is part of Emperador’s continuing efforts to strengthen our production in response to growing demands for single malt whisky in various markets worldwide,” said Winston S. Co, its president and chief executive officer.

“We want to address the scarcity of aged liquids globally, and this will allow us to strengthen and support a core segment of our business,” Mr. Co added.

Whyte and Mackay owns four single malt whisky brands in its portfolio: Tamnavulin, Jura, Fettercairn, and The Dalmore.

“Scotch Whisky is a business that requires very long-term planning and the acquisition of this site reflects the scale of our ambition, not just for the next few years but for many decades to come,” said Whyte and Mackay Chief Executive Officer Bryan Donaghey.

Emperador earlier said that it was planning to further expand its whisky business. For the year, it allocated about P6 billion for the business out of the P7-billion capital expenditures for the company.

The company also said that the P6-billion budget for the whisky business will be used to upgrade five facilities in Scotland in line with its goal to achieve double single malt sales.

Emperador is a global spirits conglomerate focused on brandy and whisky. It owns Whyte and Mackay, and other brands such as Fundador Brandy, The Dalmore, Jura, and Tamnavulin single malt Scotch whiskies.

The company is listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange and Singapore Securities Exchange.

At the local bourse, it dropped by 0.48% or 10 centavos to finish at P20.90 per share on Wednesday. — Adrian H. Halili