The South African Rugby Union (SARU) made a small operating profit – as per forecast – in a very difficult economic environment, the union announced at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Cape Town on Friday.

SARU reported a group profit before taxation of R5.1m for the year ended December, 31, 2013, which was boosted to an after-tax profit of R11.1m because of a write back of taxation charges of R6m.

Jurie Roux, chief executive officer (CEO) of SARU, said that the year represented a satisfactory operating result.

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“The sport and all businesses are operating in an increasingly challenging financial environment,” said Roux. “A number of SARU programmes and activities had to be re-engineered during the course of the year to remain within a budget that had to be revised downwards. The fact that the organisation managed to report a profit was due to prudent financial management.”

Roux said that SARU was not an organisation that measured its performance on the size of the bottom line: “What was important to us was that our operations were managed to continue without interruption, although there was an impact on a number of plans,” he said.

SARU group revenue rose in 2013 to R795m, up 14% from the 2012 level of R700m, due mainly to increases in broadcasting rights and sponsorships revenues.

However, group operating expenditure increased by 12%, largely due to an increased charge for broadcasting rights and other allocations to provinces, rugby development projects and national teams’ costs.

Roux said that the group’s financial position remained reasonably healthy at a time when other international federations were coming under extreme pressure. Total equity stood at R80m.

Roux added that revenue from broadcasting rights and sponsorships was secure and would rise moderately in 2014, as would expenditure.

However, he expected further careful financial management to result in another modest profit before taxation in 2014.

The AGM confirmed the unopposed re-election of SARU president, Oregan Hoskins, and deputy president, Mark Alexander. Both positions are for four-year terms.

In contested elections James Stoffberg was re-elected as vice-president; Boet Fick as a member of the Exco along with Francois Davids, president of the Boland Rugby Union.

The composition of the Executive Council therefore is: Oregan Hoskins (chairperson), Mark Alexander, James Stoffberg, Tobie Titus, Pat Kuhn, Boet Fick, Francois Davids, Piet Heymans (representative of the South African Rugby Players’ Association), two independents (to be appointed by the newly constituted Exco), Jurie Roux (CEO) and Basil Haddad (CFO).

Other decisions taken were:

• The inclusion of the EP Kings and the Pumas in the Currie Cup qualifying tournament on a friendly basis. They will play the qualifying team on its bye week but no points will be at stake.
• The phasing in of quotas in the Cell C Community Cup. Teams will be required to field three black players in match-day squads in 2014, four in 2015 and five in 2016. The original specification was for five black players from 2014.
• The South African Deaf Rugby Union was also accepted into affiliate membership