Trump Organization reports a $4.6M annual loss for 2019 at president's two Scottish golf resorts
Trump Organization lost $4.6million on the President’s two Scottish golf resorts in 2019 – bringing total losses to $75MILLION in eight years
- Filings late last month show losses at Turnberry and Aberdeenshire in 2019
- The losses total about $4.6 million, adding to years of unprofitable operations
- Turnberry did turn an operating profit of $437,000 before depreciation
- Total losses for the two courses now total about $75 million over two years
- The figures do not include the financial damage during the pandemic in 2020
The Trump Organization has reported financial losses totaling about $4.6 million at President Donald Trump’s two Scottish golf courses, bringing their losses on paper to about $75 million over the past eight years.
Trump’s flagship resort at Turnberry as well as his first Scottish course, in Aberdeenshire, both filed financial disclosures for 2019 at the end of last month.
Turnberry reported a $3.4 million loss for the year, while Aberdeenshire’s net loss was $1.5 million, the filings say.
The losses do not include the damage wrought in the coronavirus pandemic, which Eric Trump warned in the filings has created ‘significant uncertainty in the economy and hospitality sector.’
Trump’s Turnberry resort reported a $3.4 million loss for 2019
Aberdeenshire’s net loss was $1.5 million. The course is pictured above in 2019
Turnberry did report an operating profit of $437,000 before write-offs for depreciation, and said that 2019 was a boom year.
Turnover at Turnberry grew 6.4 percent to $26.8 million and staffing increased by 13 percent to 541 employees, many on fixed-term or seasonal contracts.
Turnberry also began paying down $157 million in debts owed to President Trump himself.
In total, the accounts for the two Scottish golf courses owe Trump more than $215 million. The fact that Trump is creditor to his own resorts creates unusual accounting, and makes their true profitability hard to gauge.
The massive ongoing losses at the two resorts mean that the Trump Organization has never paid taxes in Scotland, and have drawn scrutiny from officials there over accounting practices.
Trump plays a round of golf at Trump Turnberry Luxury Collection Resort during the U.S. President’s first official visit to the United Kingdom on July 15, 2018 in Turnberry, Scotland
Earlier this week, Scottish press reported on the possibility that Trump was planning to fly to Turnberry on January 19, his last day in office, to avoid attending President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
But Scotland’s First Minister stressed it is illegal to travel in or out of the country without a valid reason and said: ‘Coming to play golf is not what I would consider to be an essential purpose.’
The White House has repeatedly refused to say what the outgoing president will do when Mr Biden is inaugurated on January 20, prompting speculation about whether Mr Trump will attend the ceremony.
But Prestwick Airport has been told to expect the arrival of a US military Boeing 757 aircraft previously used by Mr Trump on January 19, according to the Sunday Post.
Asked about speculation that Mr Trump could travel to Scotland in order to avoid the inauguration, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘I have no idea what Donald Trump’s travel plans are, you’ll be glad to know.
‘I hope and expect that – as everybody expects, not everybody necessarily will hope – that the travel plan immediately that he has is to exit the White House,’ she said. ‘But beyond that I don’t know.
