Denis O’Brien’s Quinta do Lago golf resort lost £3.8m last year

Accounts show businessman’s Portuguese property had £7.2m in net assets

Denis O’Brien bought the Quinta do Lago resort in 1998, and has expanded it substantially in the years since. Photograph: David Cannon/Allsport
Denis O’Brien bought the Quinta do Lago resort in 1998, and has expanded it substantially in the years since. Photograph: David Cannon/Allsport

The company that manages Denis O’Brien’s Quinta do Lago golf resort in the Algarve made a loss of £3.8 million (€4.5 million) last year, latest accounts for its UK-registered holding company indicate.

Accounts for Algarve Golf Courses Ltd, show that a subsidiary that manages the complex in Portugal – Sociedade do Golfe da Quinta do Lago – made the loss in the year to the end of December 2020, and closed the financial period with capital and reserves of £13.9 million.

Mr O’Brien acquired the Quinta do Lago resort in 1998, and has expanded it substantially in the years since. It comprises three golf courses, hotels, a sports campus and residential units.

Algarve Golf Courses had net assets itself of £7.24 million at the end of 2020. The directors noted that it did not make a profit in 2020 as it did not trade. It paid no dividend for the year. Its audit fees of £4,500 were paid by Murryhill Ltd, an entity controlled by Mr O’Brien.

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Spanish course

Separately, the Spanish golf course owned by Mr O’Brien earned €2 million in profits last year, the latest figures show.

Catalunya Golf Ltd, which runs a course close to Barcelona, earned profit before tax of £1.77 million in 2020, turning around a loss of £1.64 million the previous year.

The profit helped to boost Catalunya Golf’s net assets to almost £900,000 on December 31st 2020, from a deficit a year earlier. The company owed £42.8 million to its parent undertakings at the end of 2020, accounting for almost all its £42.9 million liabilities.

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O’Halloran covers energy, construction, insolvency, and gaming and betting, among other areas