First mooted more than two decades ago, the Jack Nicklaus signature course at the Ury Estate in Aberdeenshire is now expected to partially open next year, with full completion scheduled for 2027. The project is being progressed with a £17 million loan from digital bank OakNorth.

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Spearheaded by Edinburgh-based property developer FM Group, work at the 1,600-acre country estate near Stonehaven has been delayed through the years by financial crises and red tape. The transformation plans include luxury housing at Jack Nicklaus Village, family accommodation at Glen Ury View, a retail site off the A597 Slug Road, and the golf course designed by the 18-time major championship winner.

“It always takes a while to create a great golf course, but I believe the Ury Estate course will be worth the wait and also worthy of Scotland and its global reputation for exceptional golf,” Mr Nicklaus said. “I am enormously pleased with the design of the course and believe it will be enjoyed by golfers for many generations.”

Elsewhere, pub giant JD Wetherspoon has warned of higher inflation in the coming months as extra costs from new packaging taxes and energy levies are passed on to consumers.

Tim Martin, chief executive of JD Wetherspoon (Image: Douglas Robertson)

The company, which operates nearly 800 outlets across the UK and Ireland, has struggled to return to pre-pandemic levels of profitability as soaring energy and wage costs have eaten into rising sales. Unveiling a 10% increase in profits last year, Wetherspoon also revealed that its energy and labour costs have risen by 58% and 35% respectively since 2019.

Shareholders in Petrofac could well be among those looking to drown their sorrows, even at elevated prices, after the oil services group confirmed they will be left with nothing as the company seeks to complete a restructuring deal by the end of November.

Shares in Petrofac have been suspended from trading since May after the company said it would be forced to delay publication of its annual results for 2024. At the start of October Petrofac advised that it is advancing “more than one route” to implement a restructuring plan to save the business.

In a further update a fortnight later, the company said that the chosen restructuring plan will “result in no residual value being retained by existing shareholders” as creditors and new investors take control of the business. It added further details will be shared “in the coming days”.

And then back to golf, where some big-name operations in the Scottish industry managed to narrow their losses amid rising revenues.

The Old Course Hotel (Image: GWI)

Liabilities at The Old Course Hotel in St Andrews more than doubled to £9.1m as the business increased borrowings from its American owner, Kohler. Latest accounts filed at Companies House showed a 9% increase in revenues to £30.8m during the 12 months to the end of December, with the pre-tax loss falling to £890,000 versus £1.4m previously.

The Scottish golf resorts owned by the family of US President Donald Trump also cut their losses in the latest financial year. Turnberry in Ayrshire recorded record revenues in 2024 while Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire reported a “substantial” increase in sales across all revenue streams.

Trump Turnberry posted an operating profit of £2.3m for the period but after deprecation costs this fell to a pre-tax loss of £632,000, down from a loss of £1.69m in 2023. Trump International cut its pre-tax losses to £938,000 versus £1.43m in 2023.