The Covid 19 pandemic is hitting the whiskey industry in Scotland, especially in times of high investments.
All over the world, country-specific measures against the Covid 19 pandemic affect industries and companies that were naturally not prepared for them. In some industries, this point in time could be used for realignment and reorientation. And some industries hit it at the worst possible time. Like the Scottish whisky industry, for example. It hits it in a time with very high sales and profits. In addition, a lot of capital has been invested recently. And now you have to wait for their return.
Some new distilleries in Scotland are about to open. The website insider presents in its special report Whisky industry's investors are willing to wait for returns some distilleries and their situation. For their new distillery in Craggan on the banks of the River Spey in Moray, for example, Gordon & MacPhail closed a wholesale sale of stored whisky for 9 £ million to build reserves to fund the project. The Elixir Distillers only announced in February the new plans for their new distillery on Islay (we reported). An additional application for the construction of eight houses for the employees of the distillery should follow. In addition, the Elixir Distillers wanted to set up a non-profit fund to benefit the Islay community.
Whisky tourism has established itself as a sub-area of the whisky industry in Scotland. The distilleries attracted more than two million visitors in 2019. We can hardly find a distillery without a visitor center. With the new distilleries that are under construction or still in the planning phase, the offer for distillery visitors, alongside the production facilities, is an elementary area. Industry giant Diageo also made substantial investments. In addition to reopening the Port Ellen distillery on Islay and Brora in the Northern Highlands, most of their investment went to Johnnie Walker's tourism vision. The 'four corners of Scotland' visitor centers - Glenkinchie, Caol Ila, Clynelish and Cardhu - as well as the Johnnie Walker Whisky Experience in Edinburgh cost 150 million pounds. The start date is now "towards the end of 2020". The forecasts can only be so vague in the current times.
Slàinte.