DONALD Trump’s two golf courses in Scotland lost a total of nearly five million pounds in 2020, according to reports filed with Companies House.
Trump’s son Eric signed off the financial reports and acknowledged the receipt of more than £3m in furlough money from the UK taxpayer, the accounts show.
The heavy losses at the two Trump resorts saw both of the controlling companies reducing staff, with the cuts being caused by the lockdown restrictions which closed both Trump Turnberry and the Trump International club at the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire.
BBC Scotland reported that accounts filed with Companies House show Golf Recreation Scotland Ltd, which owns the Turnberry resort, saw its turnover fall from £19.7m in 2019 to £6.7m in 2020. It made a profit of £321,000 in 2019, and a loss of £3.4m in 2020.
The resort was closed from March 23 to July 15, 2020, and again from November 20, 2020 to April 26 this year.
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The accounts show that the company received a total of £2.3m in grants under the furlough scheme last year, while the average number of employees fell from 541 to 289.
The accounts state: “Government support was helpful to retain as many jobs as possible, however, uncertainty of the duration of support and the pandemic’s sustained impact meant that redundancies were required to prepare the business for the long term effects to the hospitality industry.”
Trump International Golf Club Scotland Limited, which owns Trump’s Aberdeenshire course, also saw a steep drop in turnover, from £3.3m in 2019 to £1.1m in 2020, although the company’s losses rose only slightly, from £1.1m to £1.3m.
The company received £452,000 from the furlough scheme in 2020, according to the accounts, with the Macleod House hotel and restaurants at the course affected by lockdown closures.
The accounts state: “The UK Government furlough scheme was helpful to retain as many jobs as possible, and the majority of employees were reinstated over the course of the year”.
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Trump, whose mother was from the Isle of Lewis, opened his first golf resort on the Menie Estate in Balmedie in 2012 and two years later he bought Turnberry from a Dubai-based company. Turnberry has since been removed from the list of Open Championship courses.
Shortly before he became president, Trump handed control of both courses to his sons Donald Junior and Eric shortly but has retained a financial interest.
Last month a legal attempt to force the Scottish Government to investigate how he paid for the courses, using an unexplained wealth order, was thrown out by judges. The Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain QC, as the chief of the prosecution service must now decide on whether to bring the order against Trump.
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