SECC books £30m loss as building work continues on Scottish Hydro

THE company that runs Glasgow’s iconic Armadillo venue will post a loss of nearly £30 million following complex arrangements to finance construction of the Scottish Hydro music arena, which opens next September.

Figures approved last night by the board of Scottish Exhibition Centre Limited will show the firm absorbed a £36.1m impairment as the accounts digest the cost of construction on the 12,000-plus seat arena along with associated hotel and residential developments. The company booked a smaller £6m gain after taking the lead in the development of car parking facilities originally meant to be overseen by Macdonald Estates.

Excluding exceptional items, the figures to be posted today show a trading profit of about £350,000 for the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre (SECC) venue in the year to 31 March.

John Sharkey, chief executive of SEC Limited, said the business was changing “out of all recognition” as development at the 64-acre site continues apace. Losses from the £36.1m impairment are expected to be recouped when the centre releases a 20-acre site for development following the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

“Given the market out there, the last thing we wanted to do was ‘fire sale’ the commercial development site,” Sharkey said, adding that the land was needed until then to provide extra parking for the games.

The decision to delay release of the western development site was made possible via a sale and leaseback agreement with Glasgow City Council, which owns 91 per cent of the SECC.

Sharkey described the trading results as “pretty solid”.