Irish whiskey producer Waterford Distillery has been forced to enter receivership with reported debts in the region of EUR70m (US$73.6m).
The company, which owns the namesake brand, has suspended sales from its website, where a note confirms the appointment of financial advisory firm Interpath late last week. According to a report in The Times over the weekend, Waterford has not posted annual sales above EUR3m since it came into being ten years ago.
Speaking to the newspaper, founder Mark Reynier, who previously headed up scotch whisky distiller Bruichladdich up to its sale to Remy Cointreau in 2012, had a strategy in place “to distil quantities surplus to our requirements, so that if the proverbial happened we could sell it”.
Waterford holds whiskey stock valued at EUR140m, Reynier said in the report.
“We were seduced by going broad and wide, when, in fact, really what you need to do is start very narrow and very tight,” Reynier told The Times.
In a follow-up interview with Whisky Magazine, Reynier said: “Rising energy costs, inflation and interest rate hikes didn’t just hit consumers; they hit us. Interest payments became crippling. Our sales weren’t covering them.
“In a young brand, you’re always playing catch-up – you don’t have the reserves of an established player.”
In May, Waterford, located in the city of the same name in the south of Ireland, released Cuvée Koffi, its oldest iteration , with an SRP of US$91.50 per bottle.
