International sales key ingredient for revenue growth at Speymalt Whisky

● Whisky lifts sales as firm reveals it will withdraw from wine and beer wholesale

Speymalt Whisky Distributors, parent company of whisky specialist Gordon & Macphail, has hailed an “outstanding” year after announcing record financial results which saw overall sales soar 39 per cent.

The Elgin-based firm, owned by the Urquhart family, reported strong revenue growth in its whisky brands, as it announced plans to withdraw from wine and beer wholesaling and focus on spirits.

Speymalt posted overall sales of £39.4 million for the year to the end of February. This included proceeds from bulk sales of mature single malt stocks to the value of £8m, which will be used to finance the development of a second distillery.

Sales from the company’s main trading activity increased by 11 per cent to £31.4m, with international sales accounting for £10.9m of this total, a rise of 22 per cent.

Revenues from Gordon & Macphail whiskies grew by 14 per cent, while Benromach whisky sales enjoyed a 22 per cent increase.

The company reported pretax profits of £12.9m.

Speymalt announced that it will be retreating from other wholesaling operations to concentrate on its whisky and gin arms.

It said: “Strong performance in premium single malt whisky and gin led to good progress for the UK wholesale operation and the decision was taken to focus on this aspect of the business and withdraw from wine and beers wholesaling in the future.”

The company said it has continued to invest in the purchase of new and seasoned sherry casks and fillings from distilleries around Scotland, and released its first gin, Red Door, this summer.

Gordon & Macphail managing director Ewen Mackintosh said: “We’re pleased to be in a solid financial position to pursue our growth plans.

“This involves investing across our whole business, including building a second distillery at Grantown and various developments at the Benromach site. Our performance this year has been outstanding and this is largely due to impressive performances, in particular, by Benromach and Gordon & Macphail whiskies in key markets world wide.”

Stephen Rankin, director of prestige and a member of the fourth generation of the Urquhart family, added: “Investing in the future has always been a cornerstone of my family’s philosophy towards business and it’s pleasing to see this approach continuing to bear fruit with the strong financial performance this year.”