WILLIAM Grant & Sons, the distiller behind whisky brands Glenfiddich, Grant's and The Balvenie, has broken the £1 billion turnover barrier for the second year in a row, in spite of low consumer confidence in Europe.

But it was not enough to prevent operating profits narrowing to £124.8 million last year, results released by the company yesterday show. Turnover edged up 1.4% to £1.06bn from £1.05bn the year before.

The results for 2012 come just under a year after William Grant declared an operating profit of £126.3m for 2011.

Family-owned William Grant, which is headquartered in Dufftown, Banffshire, said tough global economic conditions had made 2012 a challenging year, and noted that consumer confidence had remained particularly low in Europe.

In spite of the challenges, the spirits company saw turnover on its core brands increase by 7%.

In accounts filed for the year to December 31, 2011, the distiller described its core brands as Grants Family Reserve, Glenfiddich, The Balvenie, Hendrick's gin, Sailor Jerry spiced rum and Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey.

Key markets for its brands are understood to be the so-called Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), where Scotch whisky is proving to be an aspirational product for the emerging middle and upper classes.

The company announced it had upped its capital spend last year with additional investment in production capacity, the replacement of the group's enterprise resource planning system and upgrades to its visitor centres at Glenfiddich in Dufftown and its Tullamore Dew distillery in County Offaly, Ireland. William Grant, which acquired Tullamore Dew from Tennent's Lager owner C&C Group in 2010, has secured planning permission to build a distillery in the town that gives the whiskey its name.

The company plans to invest €35 million in the project, with the original distillery in the town having closed 59 years ago.

Other developments in 2012 saw the spirits firm celebrate the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown.

Eleven exclusive packs were developed for the brand, which lays claim to being the number one single malt Scotch whisky in the world, to celebrate the life of Janet Sheet Roberts, the granddaughter of company founder William Grant, who died in 2012.

The special edition packs raised more than £400,000 for charities around the world.

The year also saw the packaging for Tullamore upgraded in a move to designed to give it a more contemporary appearance.

Elsewhere in the group, William Grant noted that 2012 had seen it release the most premium expression of The Balvenie to date with a 50 year old version of the Speyside spirit. It comes with a recommended selling price of £20,000 per bottle.

Hendrick's, the brand widely credited with spearheading the revival of the gin category in Scotland, was said to have seen rapid value growth across all markets, while the first ever television advert was launched for rum brand Sailor Jerry.

Grant's retained its recently acquired top-three position in the blended Scotch category and also invested in its innovation brands. These include Monkey Shoulder, a blend of three Speyside malt whiskies, Reyka vodka, Solerno blood orange liqueur and Tequila brand Milagro.

Stella David, William Grant & Sons' chief executive, said: "Whilst 2012 saw some difficult economic conditions, the company continued to perform well thanks to the continued success of our premium spirits and our consistent focus on building brand equity and investing for the long term."

William Grant's results come as demand for Scotch whisky continues to grow in many countries around the world.

The latest figures from the Scotch Whisky Association show that exports had returned to a strong growth path in the first half of 2013 after a subdued 2012.

First-half exports were up 11% at £1.987bn, compared with £1.787bn in the first six months of 2012.