Donald Trump's Scottish golf courses lose £9.5m

Donald Trump's two Scottish golf courses together lost about £9.5m last year, according to accounts filed with Companies House.

The Trump Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire, which the US presidential hopeful bought for an undisclosed sum in 2014, made a loss of almost £8.4m.

In the previous year, the resort lost £3.6m.

Mr Trump's other Scottish course - Menie in Aberdeenshire - lost nearly £1.1m.

The American has said he would invest £200m in Turnberry, having bought the resort from Dubai-based Leisurecorp.

In June, Mr Trump attended the official reopening of the Open venue following a major revamp.

The accounts for his company Golf Recreation Scotland Ltd, which runs Turnberry, said "significant capital expenditure" had taken place in 2015, with "fixed asset additions" amounting to £17.5m, most of which related to renovations of the hotel and golf course.

The company added that the Trump Organisation remained "fully committed to reviving the resort, including the transformation of the iconic Turnberry Lighthouse into golf's most impressive halfway house".

Director Eric Trump, who is Donald Trump's son, wrote in the 2015 accounts: "Upon completion of the construction project, it is expected that revenue will increase as the property is re-established an an industry-leading resort.

"The directors believe that the resort will return to profitability in the short to medium term."

Mr Trump opened his Menie course in July 2012 after a lengthy battle with local people and environmentalists.

The course, which is owned by Trump International Golf Club Scotland, lost just under £1.1m in 2015.

In its accounts, the company said overall revenues increased year-on-year by 7.4% "in spite of the economic downturn experienced in the north east of Scotland due to the collapse of the oil prices with a hundred thousand redundancies in the oil and gas industry affecting every sector in the region".

In June, several local residents raised Mexican flags next to the course ahead of a visit to Scotland by Mr Trump.

They said they wanted to "show solidarity" with the people of Mexico.

The move came after Mr Trump outlined plans to build a wall along the US-Mexico border to stop illegal immigrants.