{"id":382504,"date":"2026-04-05T01:49:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T01:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/382504\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T01:49:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T01:49:20","slug":"losses-grow-at-hinch-distillery-as-co-down-irish-whiskey-maker-suffers-2-8m-hit-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/382504\/","title":{"rendered":"Losses grow at Hinch Distillery as Co Down Irish whiskey maker suffers \u00a32.8m hit \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Irish whiskey<\/a> and gin operation launched by Belfast entrepreneur Terry Cross has recorded another year of significant losses following a 35% slump in sales last year.<\/p>\n

A new financial disclosure from Hinch Distillery Limited, reveals the Co Down spirit business posted a \u00a32.77 million loss for the year to June 2025.<\/p>\n

It followed a year when the distillery\u2019s turnover dropped by around \u00a31.8m to \u00a33.2m, while cost of sales more than doubled from \u00a31.1m to \u00a32.5m.<\/p>\n

The Hinch Distillery officially opened in 2021 on a site between Carryduff and Ballynahinch following a \u00a315m investment, backed by Invest NI.<\/p>\n

\"Live:<\/a>\"Omniplex<\/a><\/p>\n

Invest NI\u2019s support included \u00a31.9m toward the construction of the distillery as well as plant, machinery and equipment.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe inaugural single malt whiskey releases launched by Hinch Distillery last year. <\/p>\n

Accounts published by the whiskey business indicate it has been running at a loss since 2020.<\/p>\n

The latest annual loss came during a challenging period for the island\u2019s whiskey industry.<\/p>\n

Rising production costs, increased competition and tariff uncertainty in the all-important US market, heaped pressure on many whiskey operations, with some of the biggest manufacturers opting to scale back or even pause production.<\/p>\n

The 2025 accounts filed by Hinch Distillery suggest a reduction in output over the year, with its stock inventory dropping from \u00a310.2m in 2024 to \u00a39.2m last year.<\/p>\n

That included \u00a37.04m in \u2018raw materials and consumables\u2019 (down from \u00a37.6m) and \u00a32.2m in finished goods (down from \u00a32.6m).<\/p>\n

The annual report also revealed the company has \u00a321.9m falling due to creditors within one year, up from \u00a312.9m the previous period.<\/p>\n

However, the document suggests around \u00a321.3m of that it owed to group undertakings.<\/p>\n

That left the business with a \u00a310m deficit in its profit and loss account.<\/p>\n

Irish whiskey is considered one of the most capital-intensive and time-delayed business models in the drinks industry.<\/p>\n

Spirit produced by distilleries must rest in wooden casks for a minimum of three years before crossing the legal threshold of becoming Irish whiskey.<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Terry Cross. <\/p>\n

Despite the losses, Hinch has earned a growing reputation within the industry for producing award-winning whiskey at a competitive price point.<\/p>\n

Last year saw Hinch launch its first widely distributed range of Irish whiskey entirely produced in its own Co Down distillery<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Alongside its own distillate, Hinch sells sourced Irish whiskey and produces Ninth Wave Gin.<\/p>\n

Terry Cross (75) built his fortune by launching the Delta Print and Packaging company in Belfast during the 1980s before selling it Finnish packaging giant Huhtamaki in 2016 in a deal worth around \u00a380m.<\/p>\n

Dr Cross re-entered the packaging world in 2023 by investing around \u00a347m in new Belfast packaging firm Biopax<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Irish whiskey and gin operation launched by Belfast entrepreneur Terry Cross has recorded another year of significant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[170601,72,45008,170602,170600,61,60,70649,2720,72842],"class_list":{"0":"post-382504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-ballynahinch","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-companies-house","11":"tag-gin","12":"tag-hinch-distillery","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-irish-whiskey","16":"tag-manufacturing","17":"tag-profit"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}