THERE’S plenty of cash in the jar at Glendalough Irish Whiskey, which has just received a top-up of €545,000 in its latest fundraising.
Chipping in on this round is C&C chief financial officer Kenny Neison, who poured €25,000 into the spirits company. He likes a cider drink, he likes a whiskey drink.
Glendalough positions itself as a craft distillery that plans to “blast the cobwebs off the Irish whiskey category”. One might think that, with Jameson reporting that it had shipped 5.1m nine-litre casks in 12 months, the industry is none too dusty at the moment.
Another big-name investor, rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll, also stumped up for this latest round. He is putting in €48,000, which is in addition to €60,000 invested last year.
Other investors include chief executive Barry Gallagher, a former Davy drinks analyst, and Aiden Maguire, who sold his Focus Funds business to Davy in 2003 for €4m.
Advertisement
BOD and Kenny must believe there is something sacred about Glendalough’s whiskey as competition is stiff.
More than 30 Irish whiskey distilleries are in operation or in planning. Majors backing the trend include Brown-Forman, which recently bought Slane Castle Irish Whiskey. Mind you, Glendalough’s Single Grain Double Barrel has fighting talk written all over the label.
Bolster late for check-in
CHOCKS away. It looks like Bank of Ireland is getting into the aviation business. The bank has just secured a charge over shares held in Waterford Regional Airport by one-time Tramore high-flyer William Bolster.
Advertisement
A property developer who founded his own helicopter firm (how very Noughties), Bolster had a €70m golf resort and €150m residential scheme on the go in the southeast while still in his mid-thirties. He also rescued local engineering company Ellickson.
Bolster owns about 27% of the airport and is by far its largest shareholder.
The bank is owed €181,000 and went to court to secure the charge on the shares.
The Bolster case is back in court in November.
Advertisement
INM stays on top with down under deal
INDEPENDENT News & Media and its largest shareholder, Denis O’Brien, must be stoked by their decision to sell their stakes in APN, an Australian newspaper and radio business, last March.
When the company sold its 18.6% stake for €121m, and O’Brien sold a further 12%, shares were trading at A$0.88. Last week the stock languished at A$0.51 amid concerns about the local advertising market.
A good result for the former Irish shareholders but not for Irishman Ciaran Davis, who had his first outing as chief executive of APN earlier this month. The former 98FM boss is trying to roll out a subscription model for digital news content. The same challenge at home and away, it seems.
Advertisement
Bowes are still ducking and diving
IT LOOKS like Tommy Bowe’s parents have got their ducks in a row at the family’s wholesale business, BD Foods.
The company, led by his father Paul Bowe, is a supplier of barbary ducks to the restaurant trade. Indeed the Monaghan-born rugby player gave the company a plug when he appeared in The Restaurant in 2010.
Bowe pulled out all the stops, serving crispy duck with mandarin and red onion sauce for his main course. Alas, his menu clocked up only two stars.
BD Foods is faring better, I’m glad to report. Latest accounts show it made profits of €405,000 in 2014, bringing accumulated profits to €3.3m.
Advertisement
Lucky ducks.
The chattering classes are all aflutter about a supposedly big punt taken by a prominent Irish businessman on the price of oil — one that has gone horribly, terribly wrong.
The old China wobbles further dented the price of oil early in the week, though the price of Brent recovered somewhat by the Friday close.
I don’t mean to be crude, but what the heck is going on?