Glenlivet distillery sod cutting 19/8/15

Chivas Brothers has forged ahead with its investment into enhancing the production facilities of The Glenlivet distillery to ensure that current and future demand for ‘the single malt that started it all’ continues to be met. Today, work officially began on the site, which will significantly increase capacity.

The news follows a strong set of financial results for the year ending in June 2015 for Chivas Brothers, announced last week, with the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard recording overall growth in net sales of +3%.

The Glenlivet recorded the standout achievement for Chivas Brothers with +11% net sales growth, a result of the brand’s commitment to innovation and craftsmanship through launches such as Founder’s Reserve, the extension of the Master Distiller’s Reserve range and The Winchester Collection. The Glenlivet has successfully driven consumer recruitment and attracted Scotch connoisseurs to the brand, which has made it the largest contributor to the growth of the single malt category in the past five years (IWSR 2014).

Today’s announcement reinforces the brand’s recent unrivalled global success selling over 1 million cases to become the world’s No.1 single malt Scotch whisky brand. The Glenlivet is also spearheading growth for the entire Pernod Ricard Single Malt Scotch whisky portfolio, with the group’s range becoming the Global No. 1.

Across other brands in the Chivas Brothers portfolio there were additional strong performances such as Ballantine’s Finest growing in an otherwise declining category.

The brand, No. 2 Scotch whisky worldwide, sold over six million cases in the year ending in June 2015 following an increase of +2% in net sales driven by Ballantine’s Finest. Ballantine’s prestige portfolio has retained its loyal consumer base through the launch of Ballantine’s Golf Club while millennial whisky drinkers have been recruited to Ballantine’s Finest through successful marketing campaigns including the brand’s partnership with Boiler Room.

Chivas Regal, the world’s first luxury whisky, maintained its position despite a slight decline in global sales of Scotch whisky in 2014, demonstrating the continued appeal of this iconic brand. The past twelve months saw the launch of The Venture and the introduction of two new luxury whiskies, Chivas Extra and Chivas Regal The Icon, into the award-winning portfolio.

Chivas Brothers continues to lead in the standard segment with Passport Scotch, which grew +20% in net sales to reach a record 1.7m cases in the year ending in June 2015. Passport has strong appeal among millennial consumers in emerging markets including Brazil, Angola and Mexico, which has helped to earn its position as the fastest growing of all spirits brands that sell more than 200,000 cases per year.

The panel of four judges and five finalists for The Venture Final Pitch event at the Herbst Pavilion on Friday, July 24, 2015, in San Francisco, Calif. Over 1,000 pioneering enterprises entered The Venture; Chivas Regal’s global search to discover and reward the most promising social entrepreneurs. Five finalists pitched to a live audience of high profile entrepreneurs and business leaders and a panel of judges which include Adrian Grenier, Sonal Shah, Alex Ricard and Morgan Clendaniel for a share of the remainder of the $1 million fund. (Alison Yin/AP Images for Chivas Regal)

The Venture, Chivas Regal’s global search for the world’s most promising social entrepreneurs, rewarded all five finalists the remaining share of the $1m fund at the final pitch event which took place on Friday.

The announcement came after the five finalists pitched the potential of their start-up to create transformative social change to an expert judging panel that included actor and social entrepreneur Adrian Grenier. Algramo from Chile was awarded the largest share of the fund, receiving $300,000 to further develop the pioneering food distribution enterprise.

Other finalists to come away with funding on the night included Chipsafer ($150,000) from Uruguay who use innovative tracking devices to transform the way farmers look after their livestock; SenSprout ($150,000) from Japan who aim to make farming more efficient using a wireless field-monitoring system; Lumkani ($75,000) from South Africa, a company that uses technology to decrease the risk of devastating fires in informal settlements, and Diseclar ($75,000) from Colombia who turn waste materials into stylish furniture.

The Venture – which saw more than a thousand social entrepreneurs apply for $1million in funding – culminated at The Final Pitch event at The Herbst Pavilion, San Francisco in front of a large audience. The evening was hosted by the Late Late Show presenter, James Corden who applauded all five of the social entrepreneurs who pitched for their commitment to using business as a force for good.

The Final Pitch event was attended by a range of high profile entrepreneurs and business leaders from Silicon Valley and beyond. Also in the audience was Golden Globe nominated actor Oscar Isaac who starred in Chivas Regal’s Win The Right Way film, which helped launch The Venture by issuing a challenge to aspiring social entrepreneurs and the world at large to re-frame their meaning of success.

The judging panel which included Adrian Grenier, Sonal Shah, Alex Ricard and Morgan Clendaniel, assessed each business based on their ability to create sustainable change through a viable business model and potential to scale. To find out more about the winners and the other finalists who took part in The Venture visit www.theventure.com.

Social entrepreneurship challenges society to reimagine what is possible and inspires us to create a better future and a better world. All of The Venture finalists tonight challenged us to imagine how business could transform a problem into an opportunity.

They are all very deserving of support and show why it’s important for initiatives like The Venture to exist, to inspire as many brilliant minds from around the world as possible and to contribute to using business as a force for good.
– Adrian Grenier: actor and social entrepreneur

What a night! I can’t believe I’ve received $300,000 in funding from Chivas – it’s truly life changing for me. The money will enable me to scale the business and really take it to the next level.

I’m truly grateful for this experience and can’t wait to apply everything I’ve learnt since being in San Francisco.
– Jose Manuel Moller Dominguez: finalist

All five of the social entrepreneurs who pitched for funding tonight have founded innovative and inspiring social enterprises, each providing sustainable solutions for different issues.

Ultimately Jose from Algramo demonstrated a concrete proof of concept and really convinced us that The Venture funding could deliver tremendous transformative change for their business. We’re extremely proud of the first year of The Venture and Chivas is looking forward to continuing this legacy in years to come.
– Alex Ricard: Pernod Ricard’s Chairman, CEO and The Venture judge

Social entrepreneurs from across the world are invited to apply for $1 million in funding as The Venture Year 2 kicks off from 10th August 2015, visit www.theventure.com for further details.

The Princess Royal shown Prestige Bottling Hall by Chivas Employees

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal officially opened a brand new bottling hall during a visit to Renfrewshire.

The Prestige Hall was completed last year as part of an annual £40m investment in operations by Chivas Brothers. It was created to facilitate the hand-packaging of the company’s highest-value products, including those in the Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, The Glenlivet, Beefeater and Ballantine’s ranges, as well as some limited edition single malts.

The process in the Prestige Hall is much more hand-crafted, quiet and bespoke than in a typical bottling hall, drawing on the skills of specially-selected employees to ensure the highest possible standards to meet the specification expected by the expanding group of luxury whisky and gin consumers around the world.

During the visit, Her Royal Highness unveiled a commemorative plaque.

While on the visit, Her Royal Highness was able to witness the company’s full range of bottling facilities from high-speed, high-volume bottling lines to the detailed processes carried out by hand for the high-value expressions packaged in the new Prestige Hall. Employees presented to Her Royal Highness included current and former apprentices, family members who work together on the site and employees who have long service exceeding 20 years.

Speaking at the event, Mr Lacassagne, Chairman and CEO of Chivas Brothers, said: “It was an incredible honour to receive this visit by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, and one that our employees will remember for years to come. We are very proud of our state-of-the-art bottling facilities here in Paisley, and the teams that run them, so it was a pleasure to be able to present these to such a prestigious guest.

“The Prestige Hall is a prime example of how we have evolved our business to ensure it is clearly aligned for the future. The long term prospects for premium Scotch whisky and gin remain very good and this investment will continue to help us appeal to discerning consumers all over the world with the very highest quality products.”