NZGA announces $700k loss on NZ Open
IN: News | Australasian PGA | New Zealand Open (2006) | General | 30 Apr 2007
New Zealand Golf has announced a loss of NZD$695,472 on the 2006 New Zealand Open.
New Zealand Golf chairman Philip Hassall said the 2006 year had been a challenging one for the organisation and for the Open in particular.
“The last 12 months has been difficult for all involved and we would have preferred not to be reporting a loss on the Open. But we also recognise that the New Zealand Open is a fundamental part of our sport and needed to be supported for the future of the game of golf,” he said.
“The Open loss is an unacceptable drain on New Zealand Golf’s reserves. However we made some key strategic alliances last year which has helped us develop a solid and sustainable foundation going forward. This will not only enable us to steer the Open in the direction that we want but also ensure we can do so without further financial risk.”
Mr Hassall said among the one-off costs that contributed to the size of the loss were development of intellectual property, consultant costs, unrealized sponsorship, and unexpected additional administrative costs.
New Zealand Golf was still optimistic up to three months out from last year’s Open that they were on budget but unrealized sponsorship and cost increases dramatically affected the loss.
“This was at a late stage. We considered the Australasian and European Co-sanctioning rights were essential elements in protecting the status of the Open. We decided that we had to run the event at the loss to protect that asset.”
The New Zealand Open Sub-committee convened by Geoff Saunders has completed its review of the Open and its structure going forward.
Mr Hassall said that New Zealand Golf as a result will be in a position to announce a number of positive plans for the New Zealand Open next week.
New Zealand Golf also announced a loss of NZD$345,539 on normal operations for 2006. This was as a result of unexpected financial adjustments in the first full year under the new amalgamated organisation, provision for liabilities from the previous year and as a result of reduced SPARC funding for High Performance.
New Zealand Golf are forecasting a surplus for the 2007 year and are currently on track to achieve this.
Source – NZGA
