SMWS ‘fully independent’ from Glenmorangie

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is now “fully operational and independent” from The Glenmorangie Company following its sale to a group of private investors earlier this year, while the former CEO of Glenmorangie has been revealed as the society’s chairman.

Further details of the sale of SMWS to a group of previously unnamed private investors have been revealed

The Glenmorangie Company announced in March this year that it had sold SMWS to a group of unnamed private investors.

However, The Spirits Business can exclusively reveal that Paul Skipworth, former CEO of The Glenmorangie Company, has joined SMWS as non-executive chairman, while the society’s investors include Ben Thomson, former CEO of Noble Group and chairman of Inverleith Capital, and John Dunsmore, former CEO of S&N and C&C.

At the time, The Glenmorangie Company, a subsidiary of French drinks group LVMH, said the sale of SMWS would allow it to focus on its Ardbeg and Glenmorangie brands.

The company acquired SMWS in 2004 and expanded it to include branches in 19 countries and 25,000 members. Founded in Edinburgh in 1983, the society also bottles the world’s largest selection of single cask Scotch whiskies – around 350 from different distilleries each year.

Following the acquisition, Paul Miles remained as managing director of SMWS. He said: “We have now fully transitioned out of Glenmorangie and are operating independently. We have over the past year put new partnerships in place to provide for all our warehousing, bottling, logistics and administrative needs.

“We have a strong and growing membership base and there is an increasing interest in unique, high quality single cask whiskies. The society is on a very strong position to capitalise on this global trend.”

When the sale was first announced, both Glenmorangie and the SMWS have said this would “enable the society to flourish”.