Irish Distillers sees 11% net sales growth

Results for year ending 30 June 2023 were driven by Jameson net sales growing globally +10%

Irish Distillers, producer of some of the world’s most well-known and successful Irish whiskeys, has today announced full year financial results for 2022/2023 (ending 30 June 2023) with the business experiencing +11% net sales growth across its portfolio of Irish whiskeys in the year.

Jameson, now a top 3 selling international whiskey brand and a top 10 international spirits brand^[1], achieved net sales growth of +10% globally supported by continued dynamic growth in key markets including Ireland, South Africa, UK, Global Travel Retail and Poland.

The net sales growth of Jameson in Asian markets (+56%), including India, China, South Korea, and Japan, shows the continued globalisation of the Jameson brand as a result of focused brand building and investments in key markets over the past number of years.

In the US, Jameson enjoyed mid-single digit depletions value growth, in a post-Covid normalising market context.^[2]

Powers continued to recruit new consumers with net sales growth of +18% in the year, primarily driven by the US market.

Irish Distillers’ prestige portfolio, which is comprised of Redbreast, Midleton Very Rare, Spot Whiskeys, Method and Madness and Knappogue Castle, achieved net sales growth of +22% in the financial year.

Irish whiskey is becoming an increasingly significant player in the higher-end whiskey market globally, with increased supply of ultra-premium+ and exclusive Irish whiskeys including Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection, an exceptional set of six Irish whiskeys ranging from 40 to 50 years old. This year, the business launched Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter Four in the financial year, one of the oldest and rarest expressions of Irish whiskey.

While demand for these exceptional whiskeys has come historically from traditional Irish whiskey markets in US and Europe, year on year there has been an increase in sales to Asian whiskey consumers seeking to expand their luxury collections with ultra-rare Irish whiskeys.

This year Irish Distillers also released Midleton Very Rare The Pinnacle Vintage, a one of a kind single bottle release that sold for $130,000 via NFT. It was the fastest ever sale on BlockBar, a global marketplace for luxury wines and spirits, reserved just two seconds after going live. Midleton Very Rare The Pinnacle Vintage was also the highest value single bottle whiskey sold via NFT to date.

More locally, the spirits market in Ireland generated sales of +6% in the calendar year 2022^[3]. Against this backdrop, Irish Distillers’ portfolio of spirits brands recorded notable growth during 2022/2023 with Jameson (+14%) and prestige Irish whiskeys (+19%) in the domestic market.

Nodjame Fouad, chairman and CEO at Irish Distillers said: “Today we published our 2022/23 financial results with a strong performance across our portfolio of Irish whiskeys delivering global net sales growth of +11% in the year.

“Traditionally strong markets for Irish whiskey continued to deliver growth in the year, and the strength of sales in Asia shows that our strategy of diversifying Jameson and our prestige portfolio is working, with more consumers getting to know and love our portfolio of Irish whiskey.”

“We are very proud of the achievements of our brands in the year, and we believe that the potential for growth of our full portfolio is enormous which is why we will continue to deliver on our business strategy and to ignite, or in many cases re-ignite, a passion for Irish whiskey in markets around the world.”

“At Irish Distillers we are incredibly proud to lead the global growth of an iconic Irish product. We continue to invest in our operations in Ireland and in the year, we announced plans for the construction of a new state-of-the-art distillery to ensure that we have the capacity to meet the demand for our portfolio of Irish whiskeys. We are also committed to moving away from fossil fuels to power the existing distillery which is why we are reducing our scope 1 & 2 emissions at our operations in Midleton Co. Cork.”

[1] IWSR Impact Database 2022

[2] US depletions refer to sales by distributors to retailers.

[3] https://www.ibec.ie/drinksireland/news-insights-and-events/news/2023/08/11/irish-spirits-market-report-2022