Keeping it in the family helps Teeling Whiskey toast multimillion-euro profits
The company, set up by Jack Teeling, sold a large amount of whiskey to a firm backed by his father, John Teeling.
IRISH DRINKS COMPANY Teeling Whiskey, which recently opened a new distillery in Dublin city centre, saw profits shoot up to almost €3 million last year.
The company is behind the Teeling Whiskey brand. Last year the company opened its new €10 million distillery in Dublin 8, the first new project of its kind in the capital for over 125 years.
The company was set up by brothers Jack and Stephen Teeling, the sons of famed businessman John Teeling.
According to accounts just filed by the firm its turnover more than tripled, rising to almost €25 million in 2015 compared to just under €7 million in 2014.
However, much of this was due to the fact that the business made a large amount of sales to another firm that the Teelings have a common interest in.
According to the company’s accounts it sold bulk whiskey to a company called Great Northern Distillery.
Repaying debt
Great Northern Distillery (GND) is a production facility in Dundalk that is one of the largest breweries in Ireland. John Teeling bought the former Great Northern Brewery from Diageo two years ago after production had moved to James’s Gate in Dublin.
John Teeling
Jack and Stephen Teeling also each have a 17% share in the GND for a combined 34% stake. John Teeling owns just under a third of the shares in GND, the largest stake owned by one person.
The accounts show that the Teeling Whiskey Company sold bulk whiskey to GND for €13.3 million “to facilitate the repayment of debt”.
The report also notes that the company purchased whiskey worth just over €1 million from GND. The company’s outstanding bank loans dropped from €15.9 million to €5.6 million.
After taxes were paid the company recorded a full year profit of €2.7 million, up from €1.7 million the year before.
John Teeling set up the Cooley distillery in Louth in 1987, building up the company before selling it to US spirits manufacturer Beam in late 2011 for about €71 million.
Jack, who became managing director of Cooley in 2010 while his father served as executive chairman, received about €3 million from the sale as an equity shareholder in the company.
Jack( right) and Stephen Teeling
He also left the firm after brokering a deal to buy enough Cooley stock to keep the new company operational until its own production commenced, as alcohol needs to spend a minimum of three years in barrels before it comes out as Irish whiskey.
The Teeling brothers decided to establish an operation in Dublin. Finance was secured through a mixture of Jack and Stephen’s own money, banks loans and equity from a number of private backers, including their father, mother and sister.
Satisfied with production
The company’s accounts note that distillation started in March 2015, and the report said that the directors are “satisfied with the production to date”.
The Teeling Whiskey company employed an average of 24 people during the year, up from 15 in 2014, which resulted in staff costs rising from just over €700,000 to more than €1 million.
The director’s salaries rose from €105,000 to €210,000, although bonuses fell from €50,000 to €25,000.
The directors include company managing director Jack Teeling and Stephen and Katharine Teeling.
In a statement to Fora, Jack Teeling said that the company has plans for “a number of new products launching which will again offer something new to spirit drinkers and further segment the market”.
He added that the company’s strategy after completing its Dublin distillery was to “solely focus on developing the Teeling Whiskey brand and at the same time deleverage our balance sheet by off-loading excess inventory to GND”.
Teeling said that this enabled GND to “kick-start their own business model of being the supply partner of choice to the secondary market for Irish whiskey”.
“Our underlying growth of our branded business continues to be strong along with significant contribution from our visitor centre so while there has been a significant increase in the numbers employed over the last twelve months we expect continued organic growth for 2016,” he said.
The company also announced yesterday that it won three accolades at the 2016 Irish Whiskey Awards earlier this week, including the top prize for Irish whiskeys under €60.
