SA Rugby not out of woods despite profit

Problems dwarfed by pandemic but aggressive planning in place, says Roux

While his organisation reported a profit at their annual general meeting on Wednesday‚ SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux conceded the necessary Covid-19-enforced austerity measures would be painful for all rugby businesses.

“It will mean that we will walk from the burning building still intact‚” he predicted.

Before the full scope of the coronavirus pandemic becomes clear, SA Rugby reported a posttax profit of R8.5m for 2019.

They believe strict financial discipline was at the heart of the profit but admitted their challenges have been dwarfed by the pandemic.

“The measures that we have implemented in recent years allowed us to deliver a very satisfactory result at the end of 2019.

“We improved our overall solvency and financial position through fully impairing all loans‚ investments or receivables where the recovery of such was in doubt‚” said Roux.

“If this crisis had hit us two or three years ago it might have been a very different story.

“The pandemic has had the effect of tearing up all our approved budgetary plans but we have taken an aggressive approach to the potential impact of the virus. We have agreed on our industry financial impact plan‚ which will cut R1.2bn from the budget of the entire South African rugby industry if required.”

The pandemic threatens to drag SA Rugby back into the financial doldrums of 2016 and 2017 when a struggling Springbok team saw sponsors walk away from the sport.

For 2016 they were R15.7m in the red‚ in 2017 they suffered a R62.4m net loss before things improved with a R2m profit for 2018.

In their latest report, revenues increased by 2.5% to R1.29bn (2018: R1.26bn) with increases in broadcasting‚ sponsorship‚ grants‚ insurance proceeds‚ royalties and the Cape Town Sevens event offset by a reduction in Test guarantees due to fewer matches‚ Rugby World Cup performance obligations and the closure of the Springbok Rugby Museum.

Roux said operations continued to be funded by way of a bank overdraft for significant parts of the year and solutions had to be found to address a number of issues, including the loss of a broadcasting partner‚ budgeted Lottery income that did not materialise‚ further loan impairments and the R62m required to honour player and management performance commitments for winning World Cup 2019.

However‚ the significant World Cup 2019 obligation was offset by insurance mitigation plans while the investment in the rugby department (R372m in total) was rewarded with a Rugby World Cup victory in Japan.

Financial support for the 14 member unions and player welfare‚ through the use of player imagery and injury insurance‚ accounted for another 32% of operating expenditure (R275m).

In an electronic ballot for positions on the executive council‚ Pat Kuhn and Jannie Louw were elected for fouryear terms and Schalk Liebenberg for a two-year term (the latter filling a vacant position).

Francois Davids was reelected as deputy president for a four-year term in a contest with Jerry Segwaba.