Scottish Rugby slash post-tax losses in drive to become 'the leading Union'

Scottish Rugby have slashed post-tax losses by two-thirds to £3.7m and are now targeting 2026/27 as a break-even financial year.

This represents a significant year-on-year improvement of £7.6m on the previous financial period (13 months to June 2024: £11.3m).

Revenue rose by £5.5m to a record £79.4m, thanks to improved ticketing, broadcast, professional rugby and commercial income.

Meanwhile, capital expenditure of £1.4m was invested in Murrayfield’s facilities, including the refurbishment of hospitality boxes, while a further £500,000 was spent on replacing the 10-year-old playing surface.

Scottish Rugby have recouped an identical sum to what they invested in the pitch, having disposed of its interest in ‘Old Glory’, the Washington, DC-based Major League Rugby franchise.

£3.9m was spent on women’s rugby, while investment in grassroots rugby went up by 4%.

A compulsory redundancy programme was part of Scottish Rugby’s drive to cut costs, resulting in a £3.45m reduction in the payroll. At the end of the year, the SRU had a total of 306 non-playing employees – 30 fewer than in June 2024.

Scottish Rugby CEO, Alex Williamson, said: “Our mission is to become the leading union in world rugby and, thanks to the efforts of both the SRL and SRU Boards and to a number of my executive team, the financial resilience needed to support our change agenda is growing and this has allowed us to make initial strides forward in many areas.

“We still have work to do to ensure we meet our financial targets and our future financial improvement will be energised through careful but ambitious investment. This year we have invested in both our High-Performance programme to ensure we move forward competitively and in Scottish Gas Murrayfield, investments that mark the start of a wider reimagining of our campus.

“I’d like to acknowledge all our people for their professionalism and resolve over this last year. I’m encouraged by the passion and focus across the organisation to improve and go after opportunities to move Scottish Rugby forward, on and off the pitch. Success is not just about winning, it is about leading the way, and we have every intention of doing that.”

Chair of Scottish Rugby Limited, John McGuigan, commented: “We have had to make some very tough decisions including redundancies which have impacted loyal colleagues and their families. In combination with other cost reduction measures we have significantly reduced the overspend whilst making investments in key areas of the business including the pathways framework for both the men’s and women’s game. We have also made a number of key appointments in the high-performance area and maintained our commitment to contribute 15%of our income to support the Club game.”