INTERVIEW
Diageo’s new rum distillery in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands and the Roseisle distillery in Scotland represent a £150m investment into sustainable production facilities
with what is likely to happen in the next few years, at least the UK Government is taking action. I would submit that it is the right action. It may not be palatable, it may be painful, but we are doing things when many other governments are failing to act.”
Despite being at the top of the drinks world, with some of the most famous brands of premium beers and spirits behind his bar, Walsh still has a grasp of what’s needed to grow a business, whether it’s the £30bn Diageo or a fl edgling micro brewery, just starting out. For Walsh, anyone can export if they do their homework. He says: “If you are a micro brewery,
your fi rst attention should be to your cash fl ow. Before you start to have dalliances with overseas opportunities, make sure you can fi nance them. While the prize may be great, usually the investment that is required is also not inconsequential. What you don’t want to do is jeopardise your base business because of the allure of overseas markets. “So, fi rst of all make sure of your capital base and the real opportunity to launch yourself from where you are at. The
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second thing I would say is to prioritise. It depends what your product is, but don’t just stick pins in maps. Although that may make the chief executive feel good as he looks at them in his offi ce, you have to build depth in markets and I would rather be well represented in ten markets than very thinly represented in 100. I have to say in the case of Diageo we are very fortunate that our forefathers started this journey many, many decades ago and we now have a very heavy presence in 180 markets globally.”
INDUSTRY SUPPORT To put Diageo’s prominence as a major UK exporter into context consider this: Walsh and his team are part of a Scotch whisky industry that exports £110 worth of product every second. Yes, that’s every second. It’s not only a lot of whisky, it’s also a lot of revenue coming into the UK. “That is what this industry contributes to this economy and, therefore, the Government should be doing everything in its power to help us to become more competitive,” says Walsh. “As an exporter from these shores, I do recognise the tremendous job our embassies and our
commercial offi cers around the world do. Even as a large company we get tremendous support and I think that often goes unrecognised.” So what does the future hold for
Paul Walsh and Diageo? Well, there are no signs of the two parting company for some time yet as they have some more adventures to go on. One is currently underway in Spain,
where Walsh is in negotiations with the owners of world-famous tequila brand Jose Cuervo. Diageo currently distributes the spirit, but there are suggestions Walsh would like to buy the Beckmann family out and take complete control of Jose Cuervo. While Walsh is careful not to deny rumours of a brand takeover, he is also respectful of the position of the Beckmann family.
“This is a family-owned brand,” he
says. “We have huge regard for both the brand and the family and I would love to deepen our partnership forever, but it’s very much up to them.”
He may be more than a decade into the job, but the drinks business has not had its fi ll of Paul Walsh and he will not be giving up the booze any time soon. ■
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