Trump’s Scottish golf resort loses money for seventh year in a row

Company accounts reveal £1.07m loss for 2018

Donald Trump’s first UK golf resort – which he boasted was “the greatest in the world” six months ago – has lost money for the seventh year in a row.

The president’s International Golf Club in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, recorded a loss of £1.07m for 2018, according to the latest company accounts.

While that marked a slight improvement on the £1.25m loss posted in 2017, the resort has failed to make a profit since it opened in 2012. Its combined losses now stand at more than £9m.

The accounts, filed with Companies House on Friday, showed that the business has received a £40m interest-free loan from Donald Trump, who was a director of the firm until he became president in January 2017.

They record that the company “is dependent on continuing finance being made available to enable it to continue operating and to meets its liabilities as they fall due”.

Despite the continued losses, the company boasts of its plans to expand the Menie Estate by building 500 houses and a second golf course.

“Early indications have shown a swell of support from developers and the public,” according to the accounts, which were signed off by Mr Trump’s son Eric.

However the plans prompted objections from government watchdog Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and several locals angry about the potential environmental damage to the nearby coastline.

One member of the public from Stirling stated that “this money-making endeavour for Mr Donald Trump will once again severely affect the natural habitat and landscape of Scotland, a country that he is interested in only for its economic value, and for which he does not mind destroying to make himself a profit.”

Experts said the existing course had already ”destroyed” the ecosystem, causing permanent habitat loss, and in June the SNH consulted over plans to remove its status as a site of special scientific interest.

When Mr Trump first announced his plans for the resort in 2006, he claimed it would create 6,000 jobs. At present the company employs 77 people, a reduction of seven staff since 2017.

Mr Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump remain directors of the firm, along with Trump Organisation CEO Alan Weisselberg.

The president’s Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire posted a loss of more than £3m in 2017.