Boom in Irish whiskey sales produces $100 million profit for French parent company

Pernod Ricard cashes in big on popularity of Jameson, Paddy and Powers

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Whiskey popularity continues to boom

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Irish whiskey sales are thriving – so much so that the country’s biggest producer has paid over a hundred million dollars in recent dividends to its French parent.

The Irish Distillers Group, producers of big name brands Jameson, Paddy and Powers, made the dividend payment to Pernod Ricard on 2010 and 2011 sales figures.

The Irish Times reports that the payment was made through an Irish-registered company called Comrie Ltd which owns 92.89 per cent of IDG.

The payment of over $100million was made by the company in 2010 and 2011 according to the paper which says the figure reflects the highly profitable nature of IDG, a private unlimited company which does not publish any financial information about its business activities in Ireland.

According to the Irish Times, Comrie’s latest accounts appear to value IDG and related entities at over $5billion, making it the company’s main financial asset.

Although it has no employees, Comrie recorded a profit of over $100 million for the year to the end of June 2011. This was paid to Pernod Ricard via a dividend on November 30th.

The paper says the dividend payments by Comrie to Pernod Ricard reflect the success of its Irish whiskey brands in recent years, particularly Jameson.

The report states that in the year to the end of June 2011, 3.4 million cases of Jameson were sold around the world, a rise of 17 per cent on the previous year.

Jameson is the biggest Irish whiskey brand in the world and one of the fastest growing spirits globally.

The Cork distillery, which has been making Jameson since 1975, is operating at full capacity.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny recently launched a $140 million investment by Pernod Ricard in the Jameson distillery in Midleton.

The Irish Times reports that the facility will be expanded over the next two years to cope with the increase in demand for Jameson globally, particularly in the US.

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