FORMER ScottishPower chief executive Philip Bowman has emerged as a shareholder and adviser at ambitious Aberdeenshire brewer BrewDog as the company asked investors for another £4 million in a fundraising that values the company at more than £100m.

The craft beer company wants to invest £1.6m in increasing capacity at the Ellon brewery it opened earlier this year from 70,000 hectolitres a year, the equivalent of 21 million bottles, to 500,000 hectolitres.

Its plans also include a £1m brewing academy in London.

The move comes two years after the company behind drinks such as Punk IPA and 5am Saint raised £2.2m through its online crowd-funding scheme to back the building of a new brewery in Ellon.

This time, the Equity for Punks scheme will offer 42,000 shares at £95 each, equivalent to 3.9% of the expanded company.

This values the company at £103m, some 211 times last year's pre-tax profit.

BrewDog co-founder James Watt said: "We love the fact that we are funded by the people who buy our beers."

He insisted the valuation put an appropriate price on the company, which he said had posted a profit of £300,000 in each of the last two months after benefiting from the increased capacity and efficiency of its new plant.

This, he said, would bring earnings for 2014 close to £4m, against the pre-tax profit of £486,000 posted in 2012.

He added that this suggested the valuation implied by the share issue was 20 to 25 times earnings, in line with established drinks companies such as Diageo, but for a business that was expanding more rapidly.

Mr Bowman runs engineering conglomerate Smiths Group. Previously he was chief executive of Glasgow-based ScottishPower and oversaw its sale to Spanish utility Iberdrola in 2006.

But he has a background in the drinks industry, having been chief executive of drinks company Allied Domecq, until its sale to Pernod Ricard, and worked for Bass, as well as serving as a non-executive director of Edinburgh brewer Scottish & Newcastle.

He said: "Not often do you come across a team that displays such strong entrepreneurial flair with the skills and drive to challenge the status quo in an industry increasingly dominated by global brands and companies.

"BrewDog is a real innovator – a combination of brewing differentiated beers that have real taste combined with quirky and memorable marketing. Great news for Scotland and for beer drinkers everywhere."

Mr Watt said Mr Bowman was acting as an advisor but might eventually become a non-executive director.

Mr Bowman acquired a near 2% holding after a share sale by BrewDog co-founder Martin Dickie at the end of last year.

The prospectus for the share issue shows that he paid £221,000 for 15,000 "A" shares in BrewDog, although a £100m valuation for the company would mean this stake was worth nearly £2m.

If the share sale is fully subscribed, Mr Watt will retain 37.1% of the company and Mr Dickie 32.5%. Mr Dickie said he reduced his holding after deciding to get married and build a house.

The pair continue to plan for an eventual flotation of the company, perhaps in four to five years, but Mr Watt said this was a "long term ambition" that would only be realised once the business was scaled up.

BrewDog plans to add another 30 people to its 80-strong workforce in North East Scotland over the next 12 months. Overall employee numbers currently total around 200.

Mr Watt said: "It is a pretty good story for providing employment in a recession and a pretty good story for British manufacturing, which constantly gets knocked."

The closing date for the share offer is January 22.