Donald Trump’s Doonbeg resort cuts losses as revenue rises 15%

Company behind US president’s Co Clare golf course expects return to profit in 2018

The company behind Trump International Hotel and Golf Links in Doonbeg, Co Clare, saw its revenue rise 15 per cent to almost €10.7 million last year. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
The company behind Trump International Hotel and Golf Links in Doonbeg, Co Clare, saw its revenue rise 15 per cent to almost €10.7 million last year. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Donald Trump's Doonbeg golf resort in Co Clare cut its operating loss to €330,030 in 2017 as revenues climbed, documents filed at the Companies Office show.

The company behind Trump International Hotel and Golf Links saw its revenue rise 15 per cent to almost €10.7 million last year. As a result, its loss was almost half that recorded the previous year.

When depreciation is included, the loss recorded for the year was €1.77 million, down from €2 million in 2016.

Mr Trump resigned as a board member of TIGL Ireland Enterprises Limited in the days prior to being sworn in as US president, though he retains his shareholding.

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The president's daughter Ivanka Trump also resigned her directorship in January 2017, while two of his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump jnr, remain directors of the company. No dividend was paid in respect of 2017.

“The directors are confident that in the forthcoming year the continued redevelopment will contribute positively to an increase in turnover and the return of operating profits in 2018,” a note accompanying the accounts stated.

The company spent €1.4 million on improvements to the golf course and property in 2017, the accounts show. This followed an investment of €3.1 million in 2016. A €40 million development plan for the site is now in the works.

The company employed an average of 213 people in 2017, up from 200 the previous year.

The US president reportedly paid €9 million for the resort in 2014. The resort was last year valued at $25 million-$50 million (€22 million-€44 million), according to a financial disclosures form published by the US Office of Government Ethics in May.