SCOTCH whisky producer Edrington is planning a major investment to increase its distillation capacity, its chief executive has said, as it gears up for further growth in the US over the next 15 years by taking control of its distribution in the marketplace.

Ian Curle highlighted the Famous Grouse, Cutty Sark, Macallan, and Highland Park producer's intention to invest in distillation capacity as he outlined plans to hike staff numbers in the US from about 35 to 110 within a year with Edrington's creation of a new distribution company in the world's largest economy.

Diageo and Pernod Ricard have already unveiled big investments to increase their Scotch whisky distillation capacity.

Highlighting Glasgow-based Edrington's intentions, Mr Curle said: "We will be investing in distillation assets to support the growth we anticipate."

Asked whether this investment would involve extending existing distilleries or new-build projects, Mr Curle said: "That is currently being debated. [The investment] will be significant."

He added that there was a lot of debate internally on the issue, with the company knowing it had to increase its capacity but still considering how to go about it.

Mr Curle, who also outlined plans to form a distribution company in Singapore to serve the south-east Asian markets and to formalise a tie-up with FIX Wines and Spirits in the Middle East and North Africa, signalled Edrington would post "strong" financial results for the year to March 2013.

He noted a negative impact on results in the year to March from southern European marketplaces laid low by the economic downturn, including Greece, Spain, and Portugal. But he signalled this weakness had been more than offset by strong performances in emerging markets and the US.

He said the UK and Nordic marketplaces had been "slightly better than OK" for Edrington, which employs more than 2200 people worldwide.

While highlighting Edrington's investment in "route-to-market" by bringing key distribution operations in-house and expanding them, Mr Curle said: "I think, over the next year or so, there is going to be [a number of] stories about distillation assets.

"We are investing on all fronts against a backdrop of a fairly positive business outlook and, probably we would call them, strong financial results."

He highlighted the strategic importance to Edrington of taking greater control of its destiny in the buoyant US marketplace.

Noting Edrington's long-standing distribution agreement with French group Remy Cointreau in the US, which will end on March 31, 2014, Mr Curle said: "We have been with Remy for over 25 years and [this] has been pretty successful but the US … is the biggest premium spirits market in the world. While everyone is getting really excited about emerging markets, we fundamentally believe there is a lot of upside in the US."

Highlighting Edrington's optimism about the long-term outlook for the US spirits market, Mr Curle added: "During the recession, people traded down a bit but, since the bounceback in the US, probably in the last two or three years, the momentum has come back into premium.

"This is a long-term play for us. It is not about winning a watch this year or the year after. We see five, 10, 15 years of growth in the US. Actually putting our people on the ground is the key thing."

Mr Curle drew parallels between the US and emerging markets.

He said: "Of all the mature markets in the Western economy, it is probably the one, for us, that is behaving in some ways like an emerging market. The growth rates, the shift from mid-market to premium and super-premium, as wealth is created, [are] quite interesting. It is the one that probably sits out of context with the rest of the Western world."

Mr Curle put Edrington's investment in the distribution operations in the US, south-east Asia, and Middle East and North Africa at between £10 million and £15m.

Mr Curle revealed plans to increase Edrington's workforce in south-east Asian distribution from about five to between 35 and 40. The new distribution company, Edrington Singapore Pte, will assume responsibility for the company's brands in south-east Asia from Beam Global Asia Pte on October 1. The new company will cover Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos.

The joint venture with FIX will employ about 10 people, with this team already in place.

Mr Curle said: "The Middle East is about laying down the foundations for the future. There is a bit of business there but it is modest."

He added that after the arrangements took effect Edrington would control distribution in markets accounting for about 50% of profits, with joint ventures covering countries contributing a further 30% of earnings, and third-party arrangements in territories which made up the remaining 20%.

Mr Curle noted Edrington's recent successful refinancing with a consortium of six banks, which includes Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Barclays. He confirmed that this bank finance facility runs to several hundred million pounds.

He said: "The banks have been very supportive. The availability of funds has been much better than it was three years ago, just simple things like the rates that are being charged are much more business friendly."

Edrington, which is controlled by the charitable Robertson Trust, said in November that it had achieved a 21% hike in first-half profits before tax to £84.3 million in its first half to September 30, with turnover up 6% to £295.9m amid strong growth in the US, Asia and emerging markets.

Giving a taste of Edrington's annual results, Mr Curle said: "We are going to paint a picture of overall growth."