Whisky giant announces £6m venture

● Diageo to invest in new test centre ● Focus will be on science and tech

existing technical centre, which will continue to operate during construction.

This latest announcement follows plans released by the company in April to invest £150m in the Scottish whisky tourism sector, building on the success of the previous year.

In 2017, the number of tourists visiting Diageo’s 12 distillery visitor centres across Scotland reached a record high of 440,260 – an increase of 15.2 per cent on the year before.

Part of the £150m investment involved creating an immersive Johnnie Walker visitor experience in Edinburgh and linking this with four of the firm’s key distilleries, Glenkinchie, Cardhu, Caol Ila and Clynelish, to represent the regional flavour variations of Scotch whisky.

Speaking at the time, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the investment underlined the “fundamental importance of the whisky sector to Scotland’s economy”.

In the company’s most recent financial results, published in January this year, Diageo announced a 6 per cent lift in profits to £2.2bn in the second half of 2017.

However, the distiller gave warning of a £60m knock to operating profit and a £460m hit to sales for the full year, owing to the rise of sterling against the dollar.