Glenmorangie expansion represents "ruthless" premium drive

Published: 23 July, 2008

Dr Bill Lumsden, Glenmorangie's head of whisky creation and distilling, has told Harpers.co.uk the company's recently announced expansion plans represent a "ruthless" drive into the premium market.

Earlier this week (July 1), Glenmorangie unveiled its 45 million investment programme, which includes the relocation of its headquarters to Edinburgh and a new bottling facility in the Lothians area.

The two-year investment plan also includes the disposal of its 33-acre Broxburn facility to Diageo and the sale of the Glen Moray Distillery at Elgin, representing the company's "phased withdrawal" from the bottling and sale of its blended Scotch towards its premium labels, Glenmorangie and Ardbeg.

Lumsden said: "It [the investment plan] is going to be a ruthless focus on Glenmorangie and Ardbeg."

The company's current production capacity of 4m litres will increase to 6m litres by 2009, he added.

Paul Neep, chief executive at The Glenmorangie Company, said: "Our strategy is to focus on our premium single malt whisky brands to take full advantage of the rapid growth of single malts across the world."

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