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The Welsh Rugby Union increased its revenue, cut its costs and made a net profit of £82,128 in 2003/2004.
This dramatic change in the financial fortunes at the WRU came a year after the Union posted a £3,781,822 loss.
The Millennium Stadium plc reported a loss of £586,773. Whilst revenues were increased, costs were also higher primarily due to a climate of rising interest rates affecting the costs of servicing its indebtedness to Barclays Bank.
Following a change in the year end accounting date to 31 May, 2004, the 2003/2004 accounts for both the WRU and Millennium Stadium plc are for a 13-month period compared to 12-months in the previous year. A number of cost reduction initiatives were implemented and, despite the 13 month accounting period, year-on-year costs have decreased across a number of categories.
The consolidated accounts of the WRU Group for the 13 months show a net loss of £124,656 compared to a loss of £2,599,195 in 2002/2003.
"It has been a painful few years for Welsh rugby as it has been forced to adapt and change in an attempt to climb out of the financial mire. But the changes we have introduced have allowed the game to look forward to the 2004/2005 season and beyond with a solid platform and good reason for optimism," said WRU Group Chief Executive David Moffett.
"I've always been an advocate of the 'no pain, no gain' syndrome, but an organisation can endure that amount of pain for only so long. Now is the time to concentrate on the game itself - the community game and the professional game, because without the former, we wouldn't have the latter.
"Professional rugby has been condensed to four regions and I stand by something I said 18 months ago - four regions are as many as Welsh rugby can sustain, for both player-resource and financial reasons.
"If the past 12 months have been hard, then the next year is going to be vital for professional rugby in Wales. Quite simply, it needs the support of the fans to succeed and flourish.
"Financially, we are working with Barclays Bank, BT and the Millennium Commission on restructuring our debt. At this time there is nothing concrete to announce, but progress has been made. The deal we are fashioning will put the WRU Group on a firm financial footing, but will not allow us to return to the heady days of 'spend, spend, spend'."
In line with the demand of the Group Chief Executive to increase revenue streams, the WRU's Revenue Income in 2003/2004 increased by £227,000 to £2,036,363. There was also a rise in Match Income of just over £30,000 (£4,764,547 in 2002/2003 and £4,798,171 in 2003/2004).
"The rise in match Income was a move in the right direction, especially given the climate of falling income from broadcast partners, " said WRU Finance and Adminstration General manager Alan Hamer.
"There was also a key change in the overall sales procedure for international tickets. By enabling tickets to be offered to the general public at an earlier stage, and in a more orderly fashion than in previous seasons, there was an increase of more than £1m in gross ticket revenues generated from the three home RBS Six Nations matches as compared with the comparable matches in 2002.
"This successful strategy is also being replicated for our forthcoming Autumn International Series matches. Tickets are currently on public sale."
The start of the 2003/2004 season, saw the formation of five new full time professional regional teams to whom the WRU allocated them £7.5m. Funding to the 16 semi-professional sides in the WRU Premier Division was £50,000 each, while the 16 in the Lloyds TSB National League Division 1 received £36,000 each - a total of £1.376m. The remainder of the 201 clubs in the league system shared £1.16m.
As well as increasing income, the Group Chief Executive also called for reductions in cost. This was achieved using a number of initiatives and can be clearly seen in the accounts by comparing costs year on year.
Corporation Tax for 2003/2004 of £112,416 arose out of a deferred tax charge for the period, but was greatly reduced from the previous year (£338,394).
An overview of the Company Balance Sheet shows that the WRU owns tangible assets totalling £36,290,715 - the land and buildings owned by the Union - and had Reserves at 31 May, 2004 of £2,897,596.
The results of Millennium Stadium plc up to 31 May, 2004 show an increase in turnover for the year of £888,284 to £11,315,654. Whilst turnover increased, more money was spent on maintaining the facility, which is now five years old.
The indebtedness of Millennium Stadium plc continues to be significant and a rise in interest rates contributed to an 11% rise in interest costs over the previous year to £2,960,426. This increase is also due to an additional month's charges.
Net assets for the Stadium totalled £1,507,626 at 31 May, 2004 ( £2,094,299 on 30 April, 2003). The net debt increased to £52,329,648 (£51,879,233 in 2003), comprising of loans of £49,170,000 and overdrafts of £3,159,648.
The Millennium Stadium plc reported a loss of £586,773. Whilst revenues were increased, costs were also higher primarily due to a climate of rising interest rates affecting the costs of servicing its indebtedness to Barclays Bank.
Following a change in the year end accounting date to 31 May, 2004, the 2003/2004 accounts for both the WRU and Millennium Stadium plc are for a 13-month period compared to 12-months in the previous year. A number of cost reduction initiatives were implemented and, despite the 13 month accounting period, year-on-year costs have decreased across a number of categories.
The consolidated accounts of the WRU Group for the 13 months show a net loss of £124,656 compared to a loss of £2,599,195 in 2002/2003.
"It has been a painful few years for Welsh rugby as it has been forced to adapt and change in an attempt to climb out of the financial mire. But the changes we have introduced have allowed the game to look forward to the 2004/2005 season and beyond with a solid platform and good reason for optimism," said WRU Group Chief Executive David Moffett.
"I've always been an advocate of the 'no pain, no gain' syndrome, but an organisation can endure that amount of pain for only so long. Now is the time to concentrate on the game itself - the community game and the professional game, because without the former, we wouldn't have the latter.
"Professional rugby has been condensed to four regions and I stand by something I said 18 months ago - four regions are as many as Welsh rugby can sustain, for both player-resource and financial reasons.
"If the past 12 months have been hard, then the next year is going to be vital for professional rugby in Wales. Quite simply, it needs the support of the fans to succeed and flourish.
"Financially, we are working with Barclays Bank, BT and the Millennium Commission on restructuring our debt. At this time there is nothing concrete to announce, but progress has been made. The deal we are fashioning will put the WRU Group on a firm financial footing, but will not allow us to return to the heady days of 'spend, spend, spend'."
In line with the demand of the Group Chief Executive to increase revenue streams, the WRU's Revenue Income in 2003/2004 increased by £227,000 to £2,036,363. There was also a rise in Match Income of just over £30,000 (£4,764,547 in 2002/2003 and £4,798,171 in 2003/2004).
"The rise in match Income was a move in the right direction, especially given the climate of falling income from broadcast partners, " said WRU Finance and Adminstration General manager Alan Hamer.
"There was also a key change in the overall sales procedure for international tickets. By enabling tickets to be offered to the general public at an earlier stage, and in a more orderly fashion than in previous seasons, there was an increase of more than £1m in gross ticket revenues generated from the three home RBS Six Nations matches as compared with the comparable matches in 2002.
"This successful strategy is also being replicated for our forthcoming Autumn International Series matches. Tickets are currently on public sale."
The start of the 2003/2004 season, saw the formation of five new full time professional regional teams to whom the WRU allocated them £7.5m. Funding to the 16 semi-professional sides in the WRU Premier Division was £50,000 each, while the 16 in the Lloyds TSB National League Division 1 received £36,000 each - a total of £1.376m. The remainder of the 201 clubs in the league system shared £1.16m.
As well as increasing income, the Group Chief Executive also called for reductions in cost. This was achieved using a number of initiatives and can be clearly seen in the accounts by comparing costs year on year.
Corporation Tax for 2003/2004 of £112,416 arose out of a deferred tax charge for the period, but was greatly reduced from the previous year (£338,394).
An overview of the Company Balance Sheet shows that the WRU owns tangible assets totalling £36,290,715 - the land and buildings owned by the Union - and had Reserves at 31 May, 2004 of £2,897,596.
The results of Millennium Stadium plc up to 31 May, 2004 show an increase in turnover for the year of £888,284 to £11,315,654. Whilst turnover increased, more money was spent on maintaining the facility, which is now five years old.
The indebtedness of Millennium Stadium plc continues to be significant and a rise in interest rates contributed to an 11% rise in interest costs over the previous year to £2,960,426. This increase is also due to an additional month's charges.
Net assets for the Stadium totalled £1,507,626 at 31 May, 2004 ( £2,094,299 on 30 April, 2003). The net debt increased to £52,329,648 (£51,879,233 in 2003), comprising of loans of £49,170,000 and overdrafts of £3,159,648.
