Irish Independent – Sean Pollock
Bushmills, one of the world’s best-known Irish whiskey brands, recorded sales of £56.8m (€68.3m) last year, as its directors plotted expansion into new markets.
The Old Bushmills Distillery – which is based in Co Antrim and so reports in sterling – also reported pre-tax profit of £11.25m, up over £913,000.
The 2023 financial results for the company – owned by Mexican drinks giant Becle Group – also showed it received a loan for “capital expenditure” from Dublin-based JC Master Distribution, worth over £24.5m during the year.
The two companies share the same shareholder, listed as “JC Overseas”. A recent set of results by Becle shows it is the owner of the Irish business.
During the period of the results, Bushmills opened its new £37m Causeway Distillery. The move was part of Bushmills’ plan to enhance the production capacity at its facilities on the island’s north coast.
The value of Bushmills’ whiskey stocks also increased, with those maturing within one year worth almost £47.2m in 2023, up from £36.2m. The company’s whiskey maturing in more than one year had a value of just over £141m, an increase from almost £117.5m the previous year.
Bushmills employed 126 people in 2023, with total staff costs hitting over £7.75m. The majority of staff worked in production.
The whiskey producer also earned £1.9m from royalty income last year, down from £2.2m in 2022.
In the strategic report which accompanied the results, Bushmills said it was one of the leaders in the Irish whiskey category and had demonstrated a “good level of performance in its major markets”.
The directors said they intend to continue expanding into new markets.
Bushmills has been owned by the Becle Group since 2014. The Mexican group is behind Jose Cuervo tequila and also owns the Proper No Twelve Irish whiskey brand, which was founded by Conor McGregor.
According to its results for the six months to June, Becle had net sales of $1.09bn, down 2.6pc. Despite the dip, the world’s largest tequila producer recorded a gross profit for the period of $583m.
Guinness producer Diageo previously owned Bushmills but sold it to Jose Cuervo for $408m and full control of the Don Julio tequila brand. It already owned half of Don Julio.
Diageo had acquired Bushmills in 2005 for £200m from French conglomerate Pernod Ricard, the owners of Jameson.