Former US President Donald Trump in Scotland.
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- Trump’s two Scottish golf courses lost nearly $9 million combined in 2020, new filings show.
- The filings, signed by Eric Trump, show that the clubs lost money even after claiming UK government pandemic aid.
- Executives blamed the losses on Brexit and COVID-19.
Donald Trump’s two Scottish golf resorts lost £6.6 million ($8.9 million) combined in 2020, according to recently-published filings.
Accounts filed Friday with UK authorities show that losses at Turnberry, the former president’s flagship resort in Scotland, hit £5.3 million in 2020, more than double the resort’s £2.3 million loss in 2019.
At Trump International Golf Links, his Aberdeenshire resort, losses in 2020 amounted to £1.3 million compared with £1.1 million in 2019.
Trump opened the Aberdeenshire resort in 2012 after a protracted battle with local residents and environmentalists. The resort has since posted a loss every year.
The Trump Organization purchased Turnberry, a storied resort that has hosted the Open Championship, for $60 million in 2014 and claims to have spent a further $150 million developing it. The resort has not posted a profit under Trump’s ownership.
Turnover at Turnberry, which is owned by Trump through a firm called Golf Recreation Scotland, dipped in 2020 to £6.7 million, from £19.7 million in 2019. At Trump International Golf Club Scotland, which controls the Aberdeenshire resort, turnover fell to £1.1 million in 2020 from £3.3 million in 2019.
Eric Trump, the former president’s son, who is a director of both companies, said in the filings that revenues had fallen because the resorts were forced to shut during the coronavirus pandemic. He also said Turnberry’s revenue w damaged by the UK’s departure from the European Union, which his father had supported.
Brexit also affected the resorts “as supply chains have been impacted by availability of drivers and staff, reducing deliveries and the availability of certain product lines,” Eric Trump said in the strategic report attached to Golf Recreation Scotland’s account filings.
Trump claimed more than £3.3 million in UK government aid for his Scottish golf clubs during the coronavirus pandemic, Insider’s Erin Snodgrass reported.
Read the original article on Business Insider 
