IRB Financial Results Highlight Massive Investment in the Game
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced strong financial results for the year ending December 31 2005. The results from the second year in a four-year financial cycle leading up to next year’s Rugby World Cup in France, reflect the IRB’s continued commitment to major investment in the game on a global scale.
The results, which were approved by the IRB Council at the Annual Meeting held in Dublin on April 12, showed that total revenues for the period were £19.3 million. This is significantly ahead of budget for this period. The vast majority of revenue generated is in respect of Rugby World Cup 2007, which is already guaranteed to set a record for gross revenue for a Rugby World Cup. Total expenditures for the year of £22.6 million were in line with budget for the period.
“Broadcasting deals for next year’s tournament have already been completed in major territories such as France, the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand representing a substantial increase on Rugby World Cup 2003. In addition, all six world-wide partner packages have been sold. Each of the partners: EDF, Visa, SNCF, Societe Generale, Peugeot and GMF will add greatly to the profile and success of the Rugby World Cup,” said IRB Head of Finance Robert Brophy.
“The IRB is committed to major development of the game worldwide. Over the next three years an extra £30 million is being invested in the game at Tier 1 and Tier 2 Union levels as part of the Global Strategic Plan, which was launched last August. This also includes significant investment for Tier 3 Unions of up to £1.3 million.”
“This massive injection of funds is primarily targeted at strategic high performance programmes, including Union management, playing infrastructure and new tournament structures and is over and above the £11.6 million the IRB already invests annually in the 115 Unions. It means that £64.8 million will have been distributed by the IRB for the global development of the Game in the next three years,” added Brophy.
Such investment in development has resulted in the implementation of exciting new cross-border competitions across the globe, including the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, IRB Pacific 5 Nations, IRB North American 4 as well as enhanced funding for the Churchill Cup and various tournaments in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. In addition, the IRB has also provided significant funding and additional key human resources for all Tier 2 Nations.
“This investment supplements the existing Development grants of £6.1 million and Tournament grants of £5.5 million totalling £11.6 million, which fund the highly successful IRB Under 19 World Championship, Under 21 World Championship and IRB Sevens series along with number of other Regional tournaments,” said Mr Brophy.
During the year the IRB implemented International Financial Reporting Standards for the first time, which is in line with global best practice. The major financial implication is that all revenue and directly attributable expenditure for Rugby World Cup 2007 is now deferred to the year of the tournament.
Under the IRB’s previous accounting policy, revenue was booked in the year it was invoiced and revenues were accumulated incrementally for each Rugby World Cup over the four-year cycle.
“This new policy of recognising income only in the year of the Rugby World Cup is in line with best practice and better reflects the nature of our business. It has the impact of increasing the net book loss for the period from £3.3 million to £19 million with a corresponding increase in deferred revenue. However, this does not impact on the IRB’s cash flow in any way,” said Mr Brophy.
The full financial statements are available in a PDF at http://www.irb.com/
Greg Thomas
IRB Head of Communications
+353 1240 9214 or +353 86 819 6149
greg.thomas@irb.com
Dominic Rumbles
IRB Communications Manager
+353 or 1240 9206 or +353 86 852 0826
dominic.rumbles@irb.com
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