MORRISON Bowmore distillers, best known for its eponymous Islay malt, is making a move into the tourism sector to tap the growing number of overseas visitors coming to sample Scotch whisky's heritage.
The firm, which was bought by Suntory of Japan in 1994, will this month unveil a £500,000 investment in its Auchentoshan distillery, including a 30-seat cinema and four-star conference centre.
Chief executive Mike Keiller, who this year unveiled p
re-tax profits of £3.16m on a turnover of £39m, said that the whisky industry has been slow to wake up to the potential of tourism.
He said: "The industry is just waking up to the fact of the enormity of the tourist offering. This part of our business has grown 5% in the last year and now accounts for around £1m of turnover. But we are looking to double the number of visitors coming through the doors in the next three years. People love coming here, seeing the distillery and learning a bit about the history. The Americans do it very well in the bourbon industry, so why can't we?"
Since losses in 2002 and 2003, the firm has seen a leap in pre-tax profits and next year it should hit the £5m mark on group turnover of nearly £40m. As well as the growth of single malts, this has been achieved by ditching the unprofitable own-label business.
Keiller added: "We are growing the business (core profits] between 15% and 20% per annum, which is well ahead of Diageo and Pernod and shows the strength of single malts. Yes, we are small so it is not a completely fair comparison, but it is one I certainly made to Suntory recently."
Keiller's portfolio touches three regional bases: Bowmore from Islay, Glen Garioch from the Highlands, and Auchentoshan in the Lowlands, just outside Glasgow.
He said with the backing of Suntory he would be interested in acquiring a new distillery. A string of deals has been completed in the last six months as well as announcements from Pernod Ricard that it is expanding its Glenlivet distillery and Diageo's announcement that it is to invest more than £100m in the sector.
The average number of people employed by the group rose to 177, up from 170 in the previous year.
