Trump golf resort posts £3.38m loss
● US president’s Ayrshire resort made losses of £3.38m last year with turnover below expectations, accounts show
A flagship Scottish golf resort owned by US president Donald Trump has posted a multi-million pound loss for the fourth year running.
Turnberry has now lost almost £33 million since Mr Trump took over the resort’s ownership.
Last year’s loss of £3.38m was described by son Eric Trump as “one of the most robust financial results”.
Donald Trump’s flagship Scottish golf resort has incurred multimillion pound losses for the fourth consecutive year under his ownership.
The US president’s Turnberry resort ran up losses of £3.38 million last year. It means that since he took over the South Ayrshire enclave in 2014, its losses total nearly £33m.
The latest annual loss is notable, given it covers the first full year of operations since the reopening of the resort after an extensive redevelopment of both its hotel and Ailsa golf course.
Despite failing to return Turnberry to profit, Trump’s son, Eric Trump, welcomed the figures as “one of the most robust financial results” at the resort in a decade.
The latest annual accounts for SLC Turnberry Limited and its parent company, Golf Recreation Scotland Limited, were published today by Companies House.
The annual losses were significantly stemmed from the record £17.6m loss posted in 2016, but even so, the figures make clear that the challenge of wrenching Turnberry out of the red remains a formidable one.
They show turnover nearly doubled from £8.8m to £15.2m last year, which is in large part due to the fact the course was only open for six months in 2016 as refurbishment works were carried out.
However, even during the half-year it was opened, it still ran up an operating loss of £670,000.
The increase in revenue over the 12 month period was offset elsewhere. The cost of sales rose from £6.9m to £9.5m in 2017, while administrative expenses were up by more than £800,000 to £6.58m. Staffing numbers also went up from 313 to 395, with the wage bill increasing from £5.4m to £7.1m.
The accounts confirm that the resort remains heavily reliant on Trump for its finances. It owes the 72-year-old £107m, money he has provided in the form of interest free loans.
They also register a £5.42m upturn via “currency translation differences” at Golf Recreation Scotland Limited, a factor which accounted for £9.6m in losses at the company in 2016.
Last January, Ralph Porciani, Turnberry’s general manager, told a national newspaper he expected 2017 to deliver its “best year of revenue in 100 years,” adding: “We’ll make a profit this year – it will be the first time we have made a good profit in the 14 years I have worked here.”
In the event, Turnberry not only failed to turn a profit, but fell short of Mr Porciani’s revenue target, with turnover below the £16.2m generated in 2007.
Mr Trump is not the only custodian of Turnberry to have struggled to translate its prestige into profit. In fact, it is 17 years since the resort last turned a profit, and even that amounted to a modest £842,000.
Trump visited Turnberry in July on a “working visit” to the UK, playing two rounds of golf at the historic property.
That month, The Scotsman revealed the US State Department paid SLC Turnberry Limited more than £50,000 towards accommodation costs in connection with the visit.
Although Eric is predominantly in charge of redeveloping Turnberry, it remains ultimately owned by his father, via a New York-based entity called the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust.
The latest accounts for Trump International Golf Club Scotland, the firm responsible for Trump’s Aberdeenshire course, have not yet been pulished. They were due by 30 September, according to Companies House.
It made a loss of £1.4m in 2016 and, like Turnberry, has yet to turn a profit under Mr Trump’s stewardship.
Earlier this month, it emerged Turnberry is being dropped from a respected Scottish travel guide.
The five-star resort has been a mainstay of Scotland The Best since its first edition was first published in 1993.
But the book’s author Pete Irvine, said he had too many “reservations” about the prestigious hotel and its owner.
“We’ll make a profit this year [2017] – it will be the first time we have made a good profit in the 14 years I have worked here” RALPH PORCIANI Turnberry’s general manager Speaking last year