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€1.7m profits for Inishowen
whiskey maker
20.08.07
COOLEY Distillery which
makes the 'Inishowen' brand whiskey and is co-owned
by a Buncrana man has reported a jump in profits.
The company, which is part-owned by Willie McCarter
of Fahan, made pre-tax profits last year of €1.7m -
up from €1.3m in 2005. This is as a result of sales
growth of 27% to €11.7m. |
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Founding chairman and
marketing director, John Teeling, reported that
while the growth rate was slowing this year, whiskey
sales were growing all over the world after decades
of decline. Cooley makes more than ten products and
also supplies own-brand whiskey for large
supermarket chains including Sainsbury, Marks &
Spencer and Dunnes. Its award-winning products are
also enjoying strong sales in South America and have
made inroads into the Chinese and Russian markets.
The company is in the process of increasing its
marketing staff and upping its advertising and
promotion budgets to capitalise on the improving
trends.
Cooley Distillery, in Co. Louth, is the country's
only independently Irish-owned distillery. |
It was founded 20 years
ago by Teeling, a highly regarded Irish
entrepreneur, who, during his studies at Harvard
University, Boston, in the early 1970s, noticed the
decline of Irish whiskey. He saw in this decline an
opportunity to reverse the spirit'sfortunes.
He bought the former State-owned potato alcohol
plant in the Cooley peninsula and in under two years
was operating two distilleries on the site - a pot
still and a patent still.
Willie McCarter - who, with his brothers, would
later bring Fruit of the Loom to Buncrana - met
Teeling as a student in the US and shared his
vision. He acquired some of the assets of the old
A.A. Watt distillery in Co. Derry. In 1988, the two
men merged their interests to see Cooley grow to the
success it is today. |
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