The elite Loch Lomond Golf Club, rescued by wealthy Scots from a mountain of debt seven years ago, will clear its bank borrowings by the end of the year.
Its latest accounts just posted at Companies House show the club patronised by wealthy celebrities and professionals still owes £35.6m to Loch Lomond Golf Members Club, the entity set up to relaunch the club, which is registered in the Cayman Islands and said to be owned by members.
It acquired the club, saving the jobs of 100 full-time and 200 seasonal staff, after the original company borrowed £132m from Bank of Scotland, having racked up a £45m loss in a single year.
At that time the membership fee was £5000 a year after a joining fee of £70,000.
The debt to the parent has risen by £1.4m, though the club managed to repay the bank £1.2m in 2014. That leaves £2.2m, which will have to be repaid by the end of December.
Total debt came down from £36.3m to £35.8m,, while the shareholder deficit widened from £6.5m to £7.6m.
However the club managed a sharp improvement in its underlying operating position, lifting its core trading profit from £323,455 to £525,449. Turnover climbed to £9.17m from £8.44m., and average monthly staff numbers rose from 182 to 185.
The operating loss was cut from £1.28m to £1.05m and the pre-tax loss from £1.45m to £1.15m, after the continuing annual deduction of just over £1m for amortisation of goodwill.
The directors, chaired by veteran industrialist Sir Nigel Rudd, write: “The membership base grew successfully in 2014 and is expected to grow further in 2015 through both member referrals and by introductions made by key business partners to prospective international members."
They say other than a low level of hire purchase financing, "all remaining long-term liabilities are in the form of debt due to the parent company".
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