Whisky rush continues as French spirits firm snaps up Glen Moray distillery

Published on Saturday 20 September 2008 14:54

LA MARTINIQUAISE, the French spirits firm, is to significantly expand its operations in Scotland after acquiring a Scotch whisky distillery and revealing plans to build another.

The independent company, which has its headquarters near Paris, has agreed with Glenmorangie to buy its Glen Moray Distillery in Elgin and has been granted planning permission to build a distillery and warehouses in Bathgate.

The news is a further boost to an already booming Scotch whisky industry, which has seen exports hit a record 2.5bn.

The news comes in the same year as Pernod Ricard announced a major expansion of its Glenlivet distillery and after Diageo's revelation that it is to invest more than 100m in the sector. Edrington, the privately owned Scotch whisky group, is also planning a 40m expansion of its Macallan distillery to meet growing demand for the single malt.

Planning permission has been approved for a malt and grain distillery with maturation warehouses on La Martiniquaise's West Lothian site in Bathgate. The new Lowland distillery, most likely to be called Glen Turner Distillery, will be used to supply whisky to France's burgeoning supermarket sector where La Martiniquaise has a number of sizeable contracts.

Its Glen Turner single malt and Label 5 blended Scotch whisky are both leading Scotch whisky brands in France.

The sale of the Glen Moray Distillery, which is expected to be formally completed before the end of October, represents the first stage in Glenmorangie's 45m reorganisation plan. The move is part of a strategy drawn up by its parent company LVMH to withdraw from the bottling and sale of blended Scotch whisky and to focus solely on the fast growing international market in single malts.

That plan will also result in Glenmorangie relocating its headquarters to Edinburgh and a major revamp at its distillery in Tain, Ross-shire, where the brand is made.

Paul Neep, chief executive of the Glenmorangie Company, said: "We believe that La Martiniquaise will provide an excellent home for the distillery, the brand and its employees and they will continue to develop and expand the Glen Moray brand."

Glen Moray Distillery was built as a brewery in 1831 and was converted to a distillery in 1897. The Glenmorangie Company has owned it since 1920. Latest accounts for Glenmorangie show pre-tax profits have increased by 45% to 10.6m in the calendar year 2007.