Scottish Rugby published its 2023-24 Annual Report for the 13-month period to June 30, 2024, which saw “record” revenues of £73.9 million generated — but a loss of £11.3 million (12-month like-for-like £8 million).
Remuneration for the highest paid director, former CEO Mark Dodson, was £887,000, including a contractual payment in lieu of notice.
“Revenue growth of £6m, achieved during the period through rises in, professional rugby, hospitality and commercial income and development grants enabled Scottish Rugby to break the £70m revenue mark for the first time,” said Scottish Rugby.
“Revenue generated between 1 June 2023 – 31 May 2024 was £72.9m.
“Overall, a loss of £11.3m was reported for 2023/24 – with like-for-like losses over the 12 months to 31 May 2024 of £8m (2023 – £10.1m).”
Scottish Rugby moved its accounting year end from May 31 to June 30 during the accounting period “to better align with other Home Unions, Six Nations entities and major contracts.”
The inclusion of the 13th month led to an additional loss of £3.3 million for that month.
“Expenditure in professional rugby, high performance rugby, Club and School Support Funds, administration and governance rose in 2023/24 compared with the previous year,” said Scottish Rugby.
“Other factors contributing to spend included an additional month of employee and operational costs, Scotland’s preparation for, and attendance at, the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the move to the new player pathway and winding down of Super Series and the continuing investment in the women’s game and pro team budgets.
“Other business areas’ expenditure were largely consistent with the previous financial year.
“There was continued investment in the community game through the Club and School Support Funds of £4.9m which provides direct support through cash funding that are available to clubs in the way of cash to support the individual clubs’ specific needs. Funds utilised during the period include the Club Sustainability Fund and the Growth and Participation Fund.”
Scottish Rugby said the year also saw continued investment in the women and girls’ game following Scotland Women’s success in the inaugural WXV2 competition.
New regional training centres were announced last summer for the female programme, alongside participation in the first Celtic Challenge competition which saw Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors teams compete against Irish and Welsh teams.
A new male performance pathway was announced in February 2024 which included expanding the pro-team academies following the decision to end the Super Series competition.
“The financial year also welcomed a significant new principal partner in Scottish Gas, which secured the naming rights for Murrayfield Stadium as part of a wide-ranging long-term agreement,” said Scottish Rugby.
“The Famous Grouse and Skyscanner were also added to the sponsor family in 2023/24, which has since seen the arrival of Arnold Clark, Vodafone and an extension to the long-standing Macron association.
“Capital expenditure over the period of £1.2m comprised primarily investment in improvements at Scottish Gas Murrayfield stadium, Hive Stadium and Scotstoun, including LED screens and other stadium safety enhancements, office plant and infrastructure improvements.
“Cash, including short term deposits, reduced by £3.7m. This reflected the impact of a negative EBITDA of (£9.8m), repayment of an instalment of the Government loan and the deferred consideration received during the period from Six Nations arising from the transaction with CVC Partners, completed in 2021.
“The business also placed £7.3m on term deposit to take advantage of higher interest rates.”
Scottish Rugby said plans to address its cost base were announced in July this year, with the high-level losses anticipated at that time for the 2023-24 financial year, now confirmed in the Annual Report.
It said: “A series of measures are now underway to reduce costs further in the 2024/25 financial year to provide a pathway to profitability in financial year 2026/27.
“A significantly reduced loss, in the region of £3.8m in the 2024/25 financial year is expected to be followed by a breakeven position in financial year 2025/26 and a return to profit in the following year.
“At the end of financial year 2026/27, cash reserves are forecast to be consistent with the current position.”
Scottish Rugby Union chair Lorne Crerar said: “The new budgetary and supporting plan has now been put in place after much hard work, and despite further significant losses recorded for 2023/24, there is cause for optimism going forward.
“The SRL Board is making steady progress through its financial reset programme, ensuring the restoration of Scottish Rugby to a sustainable business model. Encouragingly, the SRU Board approved the budget for financial year 2024/25 in June, and SRL has made headway in meeting its revenue and cost targets.
“All those involved in the journey of Scottish Rugby, including our stakeholders, the Boards of SRU, SRL and CRB, together with all our Scottish Rugby colleagues, have contributed to meeting the challenges of this financial year. I am in no doubt that all acting in concert, we will ensure that we successfully meet the challenges of the future.”
Scottish Limited Chair John McGuigan said: “On arriving as the Chair of Scottish Rugby Limited (SRL) in June 2023, it soon became apparent that alongside a number of known challenges such as our ageing stadium, there were some deeper and more immediate issues to tackle, particularly around our financial sustainability.
“Since those issues were identified, we have been working tirelessly to ensure we return Scottish Rugby to a sound financial footing. Doing so will allow us to focus on other strategic matters crucial to the development of the game at club, professional and international level.
“We have confidence that the actions we are taking are already starting to reduce the underlying cost base. This is in parallel to work being undertaken to look at increasing our future revenue growth and bring to life new commercial opportunities.
“We are determined to ensure that trend continues until we reach a sustainable, long- term position; a target we are committed to achieving in the financial year 2026/27.”