MINISTERS' financial support for the Scots company which manages the UK's highest railway which shut three years ago due to structural problems - has trebled in a year.

Some £2m in public funds has been ploughed into Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) which manages the troubled Cairngorm funicular and ski centre as Covid wiped out its winter season.

The Scottish government is already pumping in £16m towards the cost of fixing the railway which connects a base station with a restaurant and a ski area 1,097m (3,599ft) up Cairn Gorm mountain near Aviemore But it has also had to pay a penalty of £85,989 to the EU over flawed tendering procedures.

The latest publicly funded grants that have helped Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) break even in the year to March 31, 2021 comes after it ploughed in £626,541 the year before.

Its latest accounts have revealed its turnover slid to just £215,736 in the 12 months to the end of March, from £1.2m in 2019/290.

Initial support for the private limited company provided by the Scottish Government's Highlands and Islands Enterprise agency (HIE) to the end of March, 2020, was in the form of share capital, loans and a repayable grant.

But in the latest financial year it has been primarily in the form of direct revenue funding.

Some £1.5m has been given by way of revenue grant to support the operating costs of the company.

The total of grants provided also included a £289,187 Coronavirus job retention support grant for the centre, where the average monthly number of employees was cut from 61 to 53 over the period.

HIE, which owns the ski centre, near Aviemore, and the 3,500-acre Cairngorm Estate, is suing the constructors and designers of the Cairngorm funicular as it emerged that ministers had to refund part of an EU grant for the original Cairngorm funicular because of discrepancies in the way it tendered for the work as costs spiralled from £14.8m to £26.75m.

Repairs to the world famous 1.3-mile funicular which was opened in 2001 but has been closed since September, 2018 began in November, last year.

Repairs are being carried out to concrete piers that support the mile-long railway, which is expected to re-open next year.

HIE which auditors say "faces significant financial pressures" have included a provision of £14.3m for the cost of reinstating the funicular which was expected to take two years.

READ MORE: £26m fail: Scot gov agency sues creators of shut Cairngorm railway for £14.5m

The Cairngorms are a major tourism attraction and centre for recreation with downhill hillwalking and rockclimbing a major draw for the 1.92m who visit the national park every year from around the world.

The Herald:

Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) directors have said it is reliant on continuing financial support from HIE to enable it to continue operating.

Further revenue funding has been agreed with HIE for the period to March 31, 2022 and will be agreed going forward, the company board said.

The funding is subject to conditions relating to the approval and satisfactory delivery of a business plan, key performance indicators and approval by the HIE of agreed business cases.

Director Peter Mearns described the year as a “very challenging and traumatic period.”

The Covid pandemic wiped out its winter season, and the Aviemore resort has been hit by the closure of its funicular railway.

He wrote: “As noted last year, the country went into lockdown shortly before our last accounts in March 2020. In line with Scottish Governments rules we were able to partially re-open in the summer but the restrictions were re-imposed as the year went into second lockdown on 26 December 2020.

"As a result the business was closed for nearly six months and we missed the critical winter season in January to March.”

Mr Mearns added: “I am once again grateful to the Scottish Government for its financial support not only to the company but to the sector as a whole and to the UK Government for the furlough scheme which we made use of throughout the year.”

He said that, while support from HIE in the period to the end of March 2020 had been mainly loans and share capital, in the more recent financial year it had come primarily in the form of revenue funding.

“As a result the accounts have shown a break even position,” he added.

“I am pleased to report that once again the company operated within budget.”

Some £600,000 of funding was given to cover operating loses in the form of a repayable grant from HIE made in December 14, 2018. Some £505,625 was recognised in profit and loss accounts in 2020 and £94,375 in 2021.

According to the latest annual accounts, turnover slid to just £215,736 in the 12 months to the end of March, from £1.2m in 2019/20 Accounts for the first 16 months of the company’s operations up to last year showed losses of more than £1m.

The board said next year promises to be "exciting" for the resort as the funicular railway is undergoing repairs and a makeover for the UK's highest restaurant, at the railway's top station, is among planned projects.

HIE awarded private company Natural Retreats UK a 25-year contract to operate the resort in 2014.

But when the firm placed its CairnGorm Mountain (CML) subsidiary into administration shortly after the funicular's closure in October 2018, HIE stepped in and founded a replacement in the form of the private limited company Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland).