JollyDee Wrote:
CM spent 1 million more than it earned last year. Follow the money as to where that came from and you arrive at David Gorton. That's all you need to know.
CML lost £1m does not equate to having yet actually spent it! The money could be outstanding to suppliers, contractors etc who have longer waits for payment as a result or through charges by the parent company (NAIL) for group services.
The later being charges to CML which when paid up extract money from the Strathspey economy in place of employment that used to exist on CairnGorm Mountain. That is to the detriment of the Strathspey economy, when HIE's remit is to strengthen Highland Communities.
There could be a case for those changes though, had it reduced the cost base of the business so it was more efficient and thus able to put more of the revenue back into enhancing the business offering on CairnGorm.
However, the reality is that compared to the last full financial year before NAIL took ownership of CML the 2017 administrative expenses as a proportion of turnover DOUBLED from 18% of turnover in financial year end March 2014 to 36% in year end Dec 2017 [Note = accounting dates were changed from fiscal year to calendar years]. An absolute increase of £400k in admin costs when turnover dropped by £1m!
Natural Retreats we have been told gave an undertaking to HIE to extract no more than 10% of profit from the mountain, but there is no profit because revenue extraction happens well before the bottom line in this sort of group setup.
The unpalatable reality for Natural Retreats and HIE is that under Natural Retreat's CairnGorm in winter 2017/18 had lost 40% of it's market compared to the previous decade before Natural Retreats arrival.
Edited 1 times. Last edit at 13.52hrs Mon 22 Oct 18 by alan.
