ISLE of Arran Distillers has benefited from the booming export market for Scotch whisky, with its profits more than doubling and turnover rising above £3 million for the first time.

The company is now exporting to 35 markets, with Taiwan growing by 85% and the North American markets also "significantly" up.

Although Russian sales were hit by import restrictions, which have now been lifted, the rest of Europe performed well, with France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany highlighted as reporting strong demand.

That helped turnover go from £2.71m to £3.08m, while pre-tax profits jumped from £117,316 to £250,006 during 2011.

Managing director Euan Mitchell said: "We are very pleased and recognition for the quality of our single malts is growing rapidly. Everyone in the industry is benefiting from the growing demand for Scotch whisky around the world."

The value of malt whisky stocks rose from £4.4m to £5.1m, with bottled stocks going from £335,520 to £455,735.

The company increased its funding for laying down stock by £400,000 thanks to an additional loan from existing shareholders.

Mr Mitchell said: "We must constantly be laying down stock so that Isle of Arran Distillers builds its own legacy in the years to come. We have to anticipate the market 10 and 20 years into the future as if it is not in the warehouse you can't sell it.

"It takes a long time for us to see a return on our products, so where other businesses try to have a high turnover of stock, the majority of our annual production is not sold for at least 10 years.

"Our expectation is to see a strong growth in our profits each year as the business is exactly on track with our ambitious business plan."

Production was increased to 350,000 litres of pure alcohol in 2011 with an intention to add a further 50,000 litres in 2012.

However, Mr Mitchell admitted expansion of the distilling facilities, which opened in 1995, is already being discussed.

He said: "Capacity at the moment would be around 600,000 litres and even at this stage we are looking at taking production to capacity next year.

"We are starting to tentatively speak to people in the industry about what we would need to do to increase that.

"It would be a major capital investment which would takes us to a million litres plus."

A new warehousing facility for 12,000 casks, which doubled storage capacity on the island, opened earlier this year.

The company has identified an adjacent site which, subject to planning permission, could be used to build a similar sized facility within the next five years.

Alongside its distilling and warehouse operations the distiller also attracts around 60,000 people a year to its visitor centre at Lochranza.

Its whiskies include Robert Burns single malt, Arran 14-year-old single malt and Lochranza blend.

It launched a limited edition special bottling called The Sleeping Warrior during 2011 to raise money for the National Trust for Scotland, with further new products in the pipeline.

Michael Peirce, chairman, added: "Trading to date in 2012 has been extremely positive and we fully anticipate a further year of strong growth.

"Success in 2011 was achieved against a backdrop of growing demand for Scotch whisky around the world and the company is perfectly posed to benefit from this trend."