Receivers appointed to the Powerscourt Distillery in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow have put the business and its assets up for sale.
Documents relating to the sale, seen by The Irish Times, value its stock of whiskey at just under €35 million, including 25-year-old stock purchased from the Cooley Distillery. No value has been placed on the overall business in the documents circulated.
The receiver appointed to the distillery, Mark Degnan of Interpath Advisory, outlines a desire to achieve a full asset sale of the business.
“At this time I am not considering individual or bulk cask sales, but reserve the right to enter into negotiations for such sales following the conclusion of this proposed process,” the receiver said in a letter to potential buyers.
RM Block
The sales process has been dubbed Project Cask and a deadline of the August 5th has been set for expressions of interest.
Mr Degnan was appointed as receiver on June 26th by the company’s sole secured creditor, PNC Financial Services UK Ltd, which was owed €21.5 million at the end of June.
Minority shareholders later sought to appoint an examiner in place of the receiver, with Joseph Walsh of JW Walsh accountants appointed on an interim basis. This motion was withdrawn in advance of the hearing, which had been set for July 17th, and the company re-entered receivership.
Based in the Powerscourt Estate, Co Wicklow, the distillery is described as “producing premium Irish whiskey with an in-house brand, visitor centre, bulk supply and cask programs” and operates in 30 markets across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.
The company saw “consistent revenue growth” with sales peaking at €5.3 million in 2023 before dropping to €3.9 million in 2024 “due to challenging international market conditions”.
Revenue is projected to rebound beyond €5 million in the 2027 financial year, with a gross margin in 2024 of 48 per cent. The distillery has a production capacity of 360,000 litres of pure alcohol, with the potential to nearly double this capacity to 680,000 litres with a “modest investment of €350,000″, the sale document states.
Powerscourt Distillery’s Fercullen Whiskey brand drove its growth from 2019 to 2023, with annual growth of 93 per cent. The visitor centre grew its numbers by 19 per cent in the period.
The company is based in a 950 square-metre premises, in which the distillery, visitor centre and offices are located, in addition to a 930sq m meter on-site warehouse and three additional off-site warehouses.
Stored in the warehouses is stock with a market value of €34.9 million, which the receiver’s document states is down from a previous valuation of €41 million as of September 2024, “driven by local market valuation drivers which are expected to improve”.
The company, which is currently in a trading receivership, is said to boast an “experienced leadership team”. Its staff are expected to stay with the distillery following the sale.
With a holding of nearly 38.5 per cent, the single largest shareholder is the Slazenger family (who own the Powerscourt Estate), from whom the distillery rents the visitor centre and distillery property. At the start of June, rent arrears were above €550,000, but as an unsecured creditor they are left awaiting the outcome of the sale.
Existing cask owners’ contracts are expected to be treated as business as usual upon a sale.
The receiver did not comment on the sale.
