Distillery to offer whisky shares galore

INVESTORS are being offered the chance to buy shares in Scotland’s most northerly distillery, in Shetland, which is due to begin production next spring.

Blackwood Distillers has published a prospectus offering 500,000 ordinary shares at 3 per share. The move is aimed at raising the 1.5 million required to fund the construction of the proposed 5m project at Catfirth. Despite the price tag, the shares will initially be worth just 1p, although they are expected to increase substantially once Blackwood’s malts begin to reach the market in about 15 years.

Providing planning proposals are successful, the distillery, intends to produce 40,000 cases annually of premium single malt, in peated and unpeated versions, and a variety of wood finishes.

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Blackwood’s chief executive, Caroline Whitfield, said: "The reason we are issuing shares is because we have had a lot of interest from people on Shetland who wanted to invest in the project and we were very keen to promote that. The more investment there is locally, the more scope there is for this project to integrate in the local community."

The minimum subscription is 1,500 and shares will be traded on internet-based ShareMark, the electronic share auction market, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange.

As a return on investment is not foreseen in the short term, the company intends to provide a whisky dividend to investors who participate in the offer at the rate of one bottle per annum per 500 offer shares subscribed.

Whitfield, who previously worked with Diageo and Unilever, added: "Buyers and sellers of the shares will be matched at a single price. Orders can be submitted directly on line, auctions then take place after a compliance review."

With the whisky market worth about 3 billion a year in the UK, and with single malts growing at 11 per cent per annum, Blackwood is aiming for a 1 per cent global market share by 2008.

Working capital in the early years will be assisted by the parallel development and sale of a range of spirits to be officially launched at Vinexpo, the international wine and spirits exhibition in Bordeaux, this month. Whitfield said shipping of the Shetland range which includes Nordic Gin, Vodka, Whisky Cream Liqueur and Vanilla Vodka Cream liqueur has already begun.

Helping Blackwood launch the branded products is Tom Jago, the marketing mastermind behind Bailey’s and Johnny Walker Blue. "We hope to raise several million pounds in sales by the end of the year," said Whitfield.

Whitfield is joined on the board by former Seagram’s chairman James Espey and Dr Arthur Davies, who inspired the building of the Gwalia distillery in the Brecon Beacons in 1999.