Angus Dundee Distillers have posted a pre-tax profit of £31.3 million following another strong year of sales.
Turnover for the company — which produces Tomintoul single malt, a range of rum and gin and Brechin’s Glencadam whisky — topped £81.6m in the last financial year.
The company experienced a pre-tax profit increase of more than 25% on 2022 — a rise of £6.4m.
Meanwhile, turnover rose by 14.9% in the same time period, by £10.6m.
It comes after a recent report showed more than a quarter of the UK’s food and drink exports were whisky, with the industry bringing in £7.1 billion to the country’s economy.
The directors warn the cost-of-living crisis, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the energy crisis could all have a detrimental impact on trade.
However, with cash balances exceeding £107m, the firm said it was “well placed to manage its business risk”.
Angus Dundee Distillers expansion overseas
Angus Dundee Distillers are overseen by sister-brother team Tania and Aaran Hillman, who took over the company from their father Terence.
The company employs 203 people, up from 183 on the year before.
It was announced in December the firm had launched a new project in China.
Construction work is underway, with the centre located in the Thousand Island Lake area, a popular tourist destination.
Spanning a site of more than 20 acres, the multi-million-pound distillery’s design aims to integrate with the surrounding hills and lakes and “embrace the aesthetics of the local Jiangnan Huizhou architectural style”.
A cave maturation chamber, thought to be the largest in the world, is also planned for the development, which broke ground in December 2023.
Billion pound industry
The Scotch whisky industry brought £7.1 billion into the UK economy in 2022, a report has said.
The Scotch Whisky Association said the gross value added (GVA) of whisky in 2022 had increased by 29% since 2018.
The industry is worth £5.3 billion to Scotland alone, equating to around 3% of total GVA.
The drink amounted to 77% of Scotland’s foot and drink exports, as well as 26% for the UK overall.
