by Gordon Deegan
The impact of Covid-19 closures and restrictions resulted in pre-tax losses more than doubling at the Donald Trump owned Doonbeg golf resort to €3.59m last year.
According to new accounts for the company behind the luxury Trump Doonbeg resort, TIGL Ireland Enterprises Ltd recorded the surge in pre-tax losses as revenues tumbled by 68.6pc or €8.23m from €11.99m to €3.76m last year. The pre-tax loss of €3.59m for 2020 follows a pre-tax loss of €1.37m for 2019 – a rise of 162pc. The pre-tax loss last year takes account of hefty non-cash depreciation and amortisation charges of €1.6 million.
The business in common with enterprises throughout the hospitality sector last year availed of Government Covid-19 wage supports and the accounts confirmed that the company received €496,565 in Government grants last year. The business last year lost more than half its workforce as numbers employed declined by 118 from 230 to 112 as staff costs reduced €6.5 million to €3.5 million.
According to the directors’ report, the hotel and resort was closed for long periods in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions. They state that “this has had a direct impact on the group’s results for 2020”. They add that the restrictions continued into 2021 and the hotel and resort re-opened in June and the business “has returned to pre-Covid-19 levels of trading since”. They add: “Nonetheless, the ongoing impact of Covid-19 will continue to present challenges and risks for the group and the hospitality sector as a whole.”
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Junior are directors of the company and concerning the resort’s future developments, they add that they are in the process of upgrading facilities at the Trump International Hotel and Golf Links resort at Doonbeg. They state that “it is expected that this will enhance the customer experience and have a positive impact on the company and group’s trading results”.
On the progress of the business this year, the directors state that with the roll out of the National Vaccination Programme and the Government’s re-opening strategy, they are confident that the business can achieve its budgeted results for the remainder of this period and return to normal trading conditions in the near future.
The Trump Organisation has ploughed more than €40m, including the purchase price, into the resort since it came under the ownership of the Trump Organisation in February 2014. The new accounts show that a further €1.5 million was ploughed into the resort by its owners last year and this followed a capital contribution of €1.8m in 2019. The Trump organisation purchased the resort for a knock-down price and since then the former US President Trump has visited the resort seven times.
The most high profile visit was in June 2019 which was the businessman’s only visit to Ireland while President of the United States. The two night visit by the President provided a wind-fall for the resort when it received €107,625 for providing food and catering to Gardai on overtime protecting the President.
At the end of last year, the company’s shareholder funds totalled €17.8 million. This was made up of €15.4m in accumulated losses and €33.2m in other reserves. The company last year recorded a gross profit of €3.2m and administrative expenses of €5.69m offset by ‘other operating income’ of €496,565 resulted in the operating loss of €1.98m.
Former President Trump and his daughter, Ivanka stepped down as directors from the company on January 19th 2017 – one day prior to President Trump’s inauguration. The accounts were signed off by directors, Eric Trump and General Manager, Joe Russell on November 22nd.
