Drambuie financial results to 30 June 2013 reveal that the company made an operating profit of £3.37m, 5% ahead of last year, with the UK achieving growth of 17% for the year making it the Drambuie’s best performing market. The company said this was on the back of a new marketing campaign which included experiential sampling, TV and cinema advertising. Additional funds were invested into Scotland with significant success from the participation in the opening of the Tron Kirk on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile with a three day Drambuie Hogmanay celebration. In London, Drambuie benefited from the sponsorship of the innovative ‘Secret Cinema’.
Chief executive, Michael Kennedy, said, “Overall, this has been a positive year in the company’s quest to rebuild the Drambuie brand and we are in a good position to make progress in the forthcoming year.”
While the UK was the market with most growth, its US business is Drambuie’s most important market and it has recruited a new senior regional directors to lead this business. The company now has six brand ambassadors in the key cities of New York, Boston, San Francisco, Denver, Portland and Austin. Following a positive response to the roll out of Drambuie’s marketing programme based on the “A Taste of the Extraordinary” campaign, there will be incremental investment in 2013-4 to allow for TV and cinema in key states.
Drambuie maintained its strong initiative in global travel retail with new listings for Drambuie 15 in a number of key airports, includingMoscow, Paris, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. Major promotions were activated in all 20 of the world’s top airports. As a result, sales continue to grow in this highly visible channel where Drambuie is close to securing its position as a global ‘top 50 brand’.
Drambuie sales in emerging investment markets grew 34% and new distributors were secured in the high growth spirit markets of Africa, specifically Nigeria, Kenya and Angola. Drambuie’s push into the fast growing emerging Asian markets continued with the roll out of a major campaign in Vietnam, spearheaded by Drambuie 15. Results were very encouraging and provide a good base for building this market further in the coming year.
Southern Europe finally began to level out in 2012-13 with sales across the region down just 1% on the previous year.
The value of sales finished broadly level with last year. The company reduced distributor stockholdings in a number of markets, particularly in Asia, which resulted in a slightly lower volume of global cased shipments.
