Penderyn Whisky eyes global expansion with £900k investment

Welsh whisky distillery Penderyn is investing in overseas expansion with an investment of almost £1 million to boost its production by over 200%.

Penderyn plans to ramp up expansion of its whisky to Europe, Asia and the US

The distillery has secured £900,000 funding to build three new stills that will enable its output to increase from 150,000 bottles a year, to 400,000.

While most Scotch distilleries sell around 80% of their stock overseas, Penderyn currently only exports 20% of its whisky. With the new stills in place, Wales’ only whisky distillery plans to grow that figure to 40%, targeting Europe, North America and Asia.

It’s thought Penderyn could double its £4m annual turnover within seven years.

“The growth of the business has been constrained by a lack of production capacity, rather than a lack of demand, so this investment will help us to propel the company forward,” said managing director Stephen Davies. “We have established a strong brand and business and we are now at the stage where we want to capitalise on that and look for expansion. Whisky is a competitive marketplace but we are fully confident we can increase sales both and home and abroad.”

While Scotch and Irish whisky has been gaining momentum in the export market in recent years, Irish being the fastest-growing spirit category in the US in 2012 (22.5%), Welsh whisky is yet to have an established presence on the global stage.

“Although we are the only Welsh whisky producer with a product on sale, we differentiate ourselves from Scottish and Irish whisky producers on taste and production process,” Davies added.
Penderyn secured its funding through HSBCs South West Wales commercial team.