Taranaki Rugby scores a surplus

A sizeable payout from New Zealand Rugby has helped the Taranaki union record a considerable surplus of $342,169 for 2016.

The surplus, the most the union has posted in decades, was announced at its annual meeting in New Plymouth on Wednesday night where chairman Lindsay Thomson and chief executive Michael Collins explained exactly how it came about.

As well as increase in funding of more than $500,000 from New Zealand Rugby, Taranaki’s coffers were helped by its Mitre 10 Cup side earning the right to host a semifinal against Tasman that reaped $100,000 that was not budgeted for. It was the fourth year in a row the union had recorded a surplus.

The decision to invest in the Chiefs several years ago also paid off with an increase of $49,400 in the value of the union’s investment in the Super Rugby franchise.

While all of the provincial union’s benefited from payouts from the governing body following last year’s new broadcasting deal with pay television networks, Collins stressed the fact that Taranaki had met ‘‘key performance indicators’’ that enabled it to receive such a sizeable sum.

However, given the disparity between the extra revenue and its actual surplus, Collins admitted there would be those who would question what the union would have done without the extra income.

‘‘That’s not an unfair assessment and we acknowledge that commercial revenue has been tough to source,’’ he said.

That was seen in the union’s financial statements that showed a drop in sponsorship of 6 per cent down to $1,626,778.

However, the increase in funding from New Zealand Rugby was signalled early enough for the union’s board to decide to invest more in community rugby, junior representative teams, Maori, Pacific Islands and women’s rugby, its academy and employ more staff despite that fall in sponsorship.

That decrease was also offset by an 11.4 per cent increase in total revenue, although operating expenses rose 5.4 per cent to $4,230,069.

Collins added that the union still had to be ‘‘incredibly prudent’’ when it came to planning for the future despite having accumulated funds of $1,117,999, up from $775,830 in 2015.

That was echoed by Thomson who said New Zealand Rugby had gone ‘‘out on a limb’’ with its payments to provincial unions knowing the financial benefits this season’s tour by the British and Irish Lions would bring.

‘‘That should get them through to 2020 when the next broadcasting deal was signed. But we need to be prudent around what we do because there is a two and a half year review around the provincial funding model.

The pair also acknowledged that the union’s financial bottom line each year was largely still results based on the field.

While the All Blacks will play Argentina at Yarrow Stadium in September, the union would not be making money out of it given it only received a ‘‘match fee’’ for hosting the Rugby Championship test.