The Trump Organization has sunk more than 150 million pounds ($196 million) into its Turnberry and Aberdeen properties, but they combined to lose 4.64 million pounds in 2017. Turnberry’s loss, its fourth consecutive annual deficit since it was bought by Trump in 2014, was smaller than in 2016, when it was closed for six months to renovate the hotel and open another course. The continued losses at Aberdeen, caused in part by a downturn in the oil-dependent economy on Scotland’s North Sea coast, have led to staff reductions.
After sinking more than 150 million pounds ($196 million) into its Scottish golf courses, President Donald Trump’s Trump Organization has yet to make a profit, Bloomberg News reported.
The Trump Organization’s two resorts in Scotland posted a combined loss of 4.64 million pounds in 2017, according to the latest filings in the United Kingdom, Bloomberg reported. Of that, the Trump Organization’s flagship Turnberry 800-acre resort on Scotland’s west coast lost 3.38 million pounds, the fourth consecutive annual deficit since the Trump Organization bought the club in 2014.
The results for the Scotland properties, some of the few that have been disclosed for Trump’s businesses worldwide, show that the Trump Organization has had to pump millions into the resorts to cover shortfalls while trying to cap costs, Bloomberg reported. President Trump’s son Eric, who was upbeat last year about the prospects for Turnberry to make a profit, this year called the Scottish golf business “competitive and challenging, factors that can be heightened by adverse weather conditions.”
The loss at Turnberry in 2017 was smaller than the loss of 17.6 million pounds in 2016, Bloomberg reported, when the resort was closed for six months to renovate the hotel and open another course.
Losses from the Trump resort near Aberdeen on the North Sea coast declined slightly, Bloomberg reported, to 1.26 million pounds from 1.41 million pounds in 2016, though revenue also fell. The Trump Organization has moved to cut costs at that property by reducing staff.
After spending years clashing with locals over planning and environmental concerns, Bloomberg noted, the Trump Organization hasn’t made a profit from the Aberdeen resort since opening it in 2012.
“The crash in the oil price and economic downturn experienced in the northeast of Scotland has, however, resulted in a drop to local spending and consequently revenues have decreased by 3 percent,” Eric Trump wrote in a letter accompanying the accounts. “By establishing cost controls and containment, the property was able to reduce its loss.”
Despite the challenges, the Trump Organization plans to spend another 150 million pounds building 500 homes, 50 vacation cottages and sports facilities, as well as shopping and equestrian facilities, to expand the Aberdeen resort, saying it will do so with its own financing, Bloomberg reported.
The company submitted plans to Aberdeenshire Council for approval, saying the second phase of the development will create 300 full-time jobs. It expects to start work next year if it wins planning approval.
The continued losses raise questions about whether a backlash against Donald Trump’s divisive presidency has harmed the business, Bloomberg noted. President Trump’s visit to his Scottish resorts in July sparked demonstrations in Glasgow and Edinburgh, while the Scottish government demanded that the United Kingdom refund policing costs for the weekend, which followed his meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May.
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