Andrew Dane, CEO, and Billy McCarter, CFO, provided an introduction to the company and updated on recent performance.
The Artisanal Spirits Company (“ASC”) creates and sells outstanding, limited-edition whiskies, and experiences around the world. ASC's purpose is to captivate a global community of whisky adventurers, with an ambition to create a high quality, highly profitable and cash generative, premium global business. Based in Edinburgh, ASC owns The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), Single Cask Nation (SCN) and J.G. Thomson (JGT). Owning over 18,000 casks primarily comprising Single Malt Scotch Whisky, ASC's stock includes outstanding whisky (and other spirits) from 150 different distilleries across 20 countries which is sold to members both as individual bottles and whole casks. With an established global presence in some 30 countries, SMWS operates a direct-to-consumer model (90% of revenue) primarily through e-commerce, in addition to four member rooms in the UK. SMWS provides members with inspiring experiences, content and exclusive access to a vast and unique range of outstanding, expertly curated Scotch malt and other whiskies.
Andrew Dane
Chief Executive Officer
Andrew was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in January 2023 (Previously Finance Director of the Company since August 2020), and is responsible for creating and executing the strategy of the company, defining vision, mission and purpose of the business. Since joining he has helped to deliver the flotation of the Artisanal Spirits Company on the AIM market, expansion for SMWS in markets such as Taiwan, Vietnam and Korea as well as leading the acquisition of Single Cask Nation at the start of 2024. Prior to joining the Company, Andrew was the Finance Director at Argent Energy, helping grow the business from approximately £50 million turnover in 2014 to around £350 million turnover in 2020. He previously worked for eight years at KPMG transaction services in London, Edinburgh and Toronto, working on over 100 transactions covering multiple sectors, business sizes and geographies.
Billy McCarter
Chief Financial Officer
Billy was appointed as Chief Financial Officer in May 2023 (previously Group Financial Controller of the company since February 2022) and as leader of the Finance, People, Technology and Legal Teams is responsible for the financial governance and compliance of the company alongside the Financial, People and Technology strategies that support the long-term objectives of the Group. A qualified accountant with around 20 years of experience in finance roles, the last 10 years in senior management and executive roles delivering strong, clear, future focused leadership. Having spent 8 years within Diageo prior to his time at ASC, Billy has over 10 years’ experience in the Whisky and spirits industry, covering distillation and maturation, packaging, strategy setting and productivity efficiency projects.
