Scottish Rugby makes loss for third year running but improves on figures that 'threatened its viability'

The governing body’s annual report, published on Wednesday, shows a loss for the year up to June 30 2025 of £3.68 million. Record revenues of £79.4m were generated for the period, up from £73.9m in 2023-24. The long-term aim is to drive revenue past the £100m mark.

The loss for the previous year was £11.27m, although the 2023-24 figures cover a 13-month period due to the accounting period being readjusted. The loss for the year up to June 2023 was £10.5m.

Directors are confident that Scottish Rugby is now on “a clear path toward financial sustainability” and admitted that “recent financial losses were not sustainable and posed a threat to long-term viability”.

This is the first set of financial figures to be released under the tenure of chief executive officer Alex Williamson who has been in post for nine months. He has continued the work begun by Scottish Rugby Limited chair John McGuigan in financially restructuring the organisation following the departure of former CEO Mark Dodson who left the company last March and was paid £887,000 in his final year.

It remains loss-making

The Director’s Report in the annual report notes: “The Group continues to operate in a challenging financial environment and remains loss-making in the current financial year. However, the Directors note that the restructuring programme initiated in June 2024 is now substantially complete, with the associated cash outflows incurred during the year ended June 2025.

“Under the new strategic direction of a recently appointed CEO and CFO, the organisation has made progress in implementing both revenue-enhancing and cost reduction initiatives. This has led to a stabilisation of operations and positioned the Group on a clear path toward financial sustainability.”

The report adds that the directors are confident that the business will “return to profitability within the near term”.

Williamson said: “The financial narrative of this Report is one that we can be cautiously optimistic about. Detailing improving performance year-on-year, which has seen our trading loss reduce by £7.6m, is encouraging and I am confident we will see continued improvements in the year ahead allowing our distribution into Rugby Development to increase.”

The chief executive recently awarded new contracts to Scotland men’s coach Gregor Townsend and Glasgow Warriors coach Franco Smith and appointed Gemma Fay as the organisation's first Managing Director of Women’s Rugby.

Talks with Sean Everitt

Williamson revealed that contract talks were ongoing with Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt whose current deal expires at the end of the season. He also said that interviews had begun for the post of Scotland women’s coach which was vacated by Bryan Easson after this year’s Rugby World Cup.

McGuigan admitted the financial restructuring had meant some tough decisions, including redundancies. He also indicated that he expects to see more from Townsend’s side this season.

“Our Men’s national team have shown promise but have yet to fully realise their potential on the international stage, with hopes high for a strong 2026 Guinness Six Nations in which we will host England and France,” wrote McGuigan.

The appointment of David Nucifora as a consultant performance director was hailed as was the decision to host the GB Sevens programme in Edinburgh.

“We are also now seeing the changes to our high performance programme through David Nucifora who has brought in worldclass expertise to strengthen the support throughout our elite programmes from the pathways to our national teams,” said McGuigan. “The women’s programme, GB and Scotland 7s and our pro teams will all be benefitting in the seasons to come.”

More concerts mean more revenue

The latest finances have been boosted by more Scotland games at Murrayfield compared to the previous financial year. Townsend’s side played three home matches in the Six Nations in 2025 compared to two in 2024. They also played four games at Murrayfield in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series compared to none in the autumn of 2023 when the men’s Rugby World Cup was staged.

Concerts continue to be a big revenue driver for the union. Oasis played three nights at Murrayfield in August and there were also shows this year from Robbie Williams and AC/DC, following on from last year’s successful run of shows by Taylor Swift.

The increase in the number of concerts was achieved through “improved licensing conditions” which now allows the governing body to stage up to 12 concerts a year, up from three.

“[It] allows us to leverage real value from the stadium during the summer, establishing Murrayfield as a genuine music venue, one of the largest in the UK and giving us commercial returns we can use to propel improvements to the facilities both in Edinburgh and at Scotstoun,” said Williamson.