Volume whiskey manufacturer Great Northern Distillery is operating on a bumper 50% profit margin, according to the company’s latest accounts.

Majority owned by John Teeling (pictured) and his sons Stephen Teeling and Jack Teeling, Great Northern Distillery Ltd enjoyed 34% turnover growth to €44.5m in the year to April 2022.

GND manufactures whiskey and then sells it on to scores of other distilleries and whiskey brands. The other main player in this whiskey wholesale market is West Cork Distillers.

GND stock is used by start-up distilleries who want to develop a brand ahead of their own stock maturing, niche brands that sell whiskey without the hassle of a distillery, and by volume retailers such as supermarket chains.

GND’s operating profit in 2021/22 was €22.4m, up from €17m the previous year. Net profit for the period was €18.2m, up from €13.9m in 2020/21.

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The Great Northern Distillery is located on the site of the former Great Northern Brewery in Dundalk. The original brewery was developed in 1896 and Guinness/Diageo took in over in the 1950s.

Guinness converted the brewery into a lager operation for its Harp Lager brand. As Harp’s fortunes declined, Diageo shut the brewery in 2013, and John Teeling picked it up in 2015 after disposing of his Cooley Distillery venture.

GND operates pot stills and column stills that produce Grain, Triple Malt, Double Malt, Peated Malt and Pot Still whiskey. The distillery has a capacity of 16 million litres of whiskey spirit and it also operates small-scale gin still.

GND doesn’t pay dividends but rewards shareholders with share buybacks: €5.5m in 2021/22 and €9.4m the previous year. As well as the Teelings, the other principal shareholders are John Finn and David Hynes.

The company reduced outstanding loans, provided by AIB, to €17m in April 2022 from €24m a year earlier.

Total capital investment in the venture has amounted to €38m, with €17m spent on plant and machinery and €22m on casks to transform raw alcohol into whiskey.

Period end liabilities totalled €31m, down from €47m a year earlier, and April 2022 net worth was estimated at €57m by auditors PKF O’Connor Leddy & Holmes.

Whiskey stock on hand in April 2022 was valued at €45m.