Trump’s Scottish courses suffer triple bogey with new annual losses

Controversial American tycoon and current presidential hopeful Donald Trump has received bad news from his two Scottish golf course projects.

Accounts for the resorts at the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire and Turnberry in Ayrshire show that they lost more than £2 million last year, with both sites making losses.

Trump International Golf Links in the north-east of Scotland, which the businessman opened in 2012 despite local and environmental opposition, lost money for the third year in a row in 2014, according to latest accounts.

Mr Trump, had said his investment of £1 billion on the course would make it the greatest in the world and also pledged to create 800 jobs at the resort.

However, whether or not Mr Trump’s boast are true, it still made a loss of £1,139,513 last year, despite increasing its turnover to £2.8m during the year – a jump of £500,000 from the previous 12 months.

The loss suffered in 2014 at the course - which is valued at £30m - compared to losses of £1.8m in 2013 and £1.7m in 2012.

Rather than the 800 strong workforce projected, the business employed just 95 people during its third year of operations who were paid a total of £1.9m.

Meanwhile, accounts for Trump’s second site at Turnberry, which his firm purchased in June last year, had a turnover of £13.1m but made a loss of £1.1m for 2014.

The company said the loss was down to significant investments being made in the resort by the Trump Organisation.

The Turnberry hotel and its Ailsa championship course were closed last month ahead of a planned £200m refurbishment.

The planned work is said to include refurbishment of all guest rooms, suites, corridors, restaurants and public spaces and a grand ballroom with space for 500 people.

Changes are also being made to the golf course and the resort is expected to reopen in June 2016.

The papers also show that Mr Trump, 69, paid £39.5m to Dubai-based firm Leisurecorp for the course and hotel.

Despite the losses, Mr Trump’s representatives remain positive about the future of his investments in Scotland.

In his director report for the Menie Estate, the businessman’s son Eric Trump said: “As compared to 2013, the company has seen a dramatic improvement operating results.

“In fact, the directors have successfully increased turnover by 23 per cent, reduced administrative expenses by 24 per cent and improved the operating results by more than 38 per cent for the period.

“Significant investment in terms of personnel and available services continues apace with an increase in the workforce by 44 per cent and the commencement of the new clubhouse project.

“Services continue to grow, further capital investment is in its scheduled and another significant improvement in the results is expected.”

However, he said future profits could be hurt by the “ongoing dip in the local economy and adverse weather conditions” in the area which would drive golfers away.