Owner of Boru Vodka loses €10m

The US-listed company that owns Boru Vodka and its associated brands lost €10 million in its last financial year, according to its latest annual report.

Castle Brands Incorporated, the US stock exchange-listed business that owns Boru Vodka and Clontarf Irish Whiskey, yesterday announced that it has bought a specialist bourbon producer, McLain and Kyne.

McLain and Kyne is a long-standing small producer of specialist Kentucky bourbons that are sold under the Jefferson and Houston brands. The company is based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company did not reveal the purchase price and refused to comment on the deal.

Castle Brands' latest annual report shows that its net loss in the 12 months ended March 31st this year was $12.7 million (€10 million), while the loss attributable to shareholders for the period was $14 million.

Its net loss for the year ended March 31st, 2005, was $12.5 million, while the deficit attributable to shareholders topped $13 million.

Chairman and chief executive Mark Andrews says in the report that the company expected to loose $11.9 million during the year as the result of a planned investment in sales and marketing infrastructure and brand development.

The report shows sales grew 66 per cent to $21.15 million in the 12 months ended March 31st from $12.62 million a year earlier.

The increase in sales was largely down to the fact that the company added UK-produced Gosling rum to its brands. It was also the first year that it had a full 12-month contribution to sales from Pallini Limoncello, an Italian liqueur range for which it won the exclusive US distribution rights in 2004.

The annual report states that Boru Vodka is its biggest brand and will continue to be a key driver of growth for the business. During the year it sold almost 128,000 cases, or 1.15 million litres, of Boru, which amounted to 47 per cent of its volume sales.

Boru was part of the Roaringwater Bay spirits business founded in the 1990s by Pat Rigney and Dave Phelan. Castle took over this business in late 2003. It floated on the US stock exchange in April of this year, raising $26 million.

Returns to the Companies Registration Office (CRO) in Dublin show that Mr Rigney and Mr Phelan continued to act as directors of a number of Castle's Irish subsidiaries until last year.

The report also shows that the US parent is maintaining Roaring Water Bay's deals with Carbery Milk Products in Ballineen, Co Cork, and Terra in Bailieboro, Co Cavan, which produce alcohol and finished spirits for the company. The Carberry deal expires in 2008 and Terra's in 2009.