The RFU’s turnover of £71.3million for 2003/04 was close to last year’s record turnover of £72.4million, but Twickenham only hosted three major international matches in 2003/04 as opposed to six the previous year because of the Rugby World Cup.
The shortfall of match revenue from the usual autumn internationals, around £5.6million, and hosting only two RBS Six Nations games, resulting in a further £2.7m loss, was virtually compensated for by good performances in the RFU’s commercial and hospitality business.
The RFU’s operating profit of £13.5million was £2million higher than the 2001/02 figure and £4.9million down on 2002/03.
Revenue in the RFUs ‘Rugby Store’ rose by over 90 per cent to £7.7million, including sales of more than £1million in one calendar month in December 2003 – following England’s World Cup triumph - when £1.7million of goods were sold.
The RFU’s hospitality business enjoyed good sales compared to previous seasons with 4,200 packages sold for England v Ireland compared to 2,706 for the same fixture in 2002.
Other income included more than £600,000 for hosting the Rolling Stones concerts held in August and September 2003 and a similar amount from the England Rugby Supporters Club, whose 22,000 membership is rising by more than 800 per month.
Graeme Cattermole, chairman of the RFU Management Board, said: “Our investment in the community game, from the RFU’s own financial resources, has remained at a very high level, which was matched by a variety of external funding sources to deliver total funding for the community game of £28million, double the amount of the previous year.”
“The reaction to the Sweet Chariot Tour, where we reached over a million people has improved participation at every level of the game due to England’s win in the RWC and that has given us a huge tangible benefit, which everyone can enjoy.”
Francis Baron, chief executive of the RFU, said: “The positive effects of winning the Rugby World Cup and the boost it has given to participation levels complement the statement I made last year that we have an excellent foundation from which we can fully exploit the commercial opportunities over the next few years. I fully expect that our new sponsorship deals will generate increases of around 20% plus per deal in the future.
Finance director, Nick Eastwood, said: “Our revenues and operating profit remain very high in a tough and competitive market. We have been able to ensure that our contribution to our member clubs and constituent bodies is around 40 per cent up on those made in 2002. Now that we have a full programme of major home internationals to look forward to our aim now is to produce stronger figures next year.
“We announced last August that the RFU was debt free and we will be focussing a great deal of financial resources into the funding of the South Stand re-development which should be operational by the autumn of 2007.”
