In its annual results on Thursday, Cooley reported that turnover in 2006 was up 27% to 11.7m from 9.2m in 2005. Operating pro"t rose 26% from 1.3m to 1.6m while earnings per share were up from 13.06 cent to 16.5 cent.

Cooley's results came the same day the owners of Boru Vodka and Clontarf whiskey reported signi"cant "rst-quarter losses. US-based Castle Brands made a loss of $4.4m on the back of sales of $5.6m, citing increased sales and marketing costs as the reason for its poor performance.

"I took some satisfaction in seeing those "gures, " said Teeling. "A few years ago we had shareholders roaring at us, asking us why we didn't launch something like Boru. Now these guys are losing a million a month. Breaking into the spirits market is a very dif"cult thing to do and you can lose your bollocks if it doesn't work out. We've been very conservative with our marketing expenses because it's just so hard to know what will work or not."

Teeling has also strengthened his control of the company after buying out fellow founder Paul Power.

He bought the majority of Power's 11% interest in the company to raise his stake from 13% to 22%.

The remainder of Power's shareholding was purchased by fellow director James Finn and Teeling's sons Stephen and Jack.

Teeling said that Power had withdrawn from operations and wanted to sell the company.

"We wanted to hold on to it and grow the business, so we decided to buy him out, " he explained. Power failed in his bid to be re-elected to the board in 2003 and began to seek an exit at that time.

In 2004 the company announced plans to "oat on the London Alternative Investments Market as an exit mechanism for investors such as Power, but postponed the move on valuation grounds.

Teeling said booming sales of the Michael Collins whiskey brand, which is produced for US distributor Sidney Frank, was one of the key reasons for the company's good performance in 2006. Sales of whiskey to retailers with their own brands were also very strong, with Lidl and Marks & Spencer both increasing sales.