LONDON (Reuters) - The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has bucked the recession to record pre-tax profits of $14.80 million (8.4 million pounds), the sport's governing body for England said on Thursday.
The RFU said an increased number of home internationals had helped them recover from a loss of $822,200 the previous year and cushioned the blow of falling corporate sales.
There were seven England matches held at Twickenham last year, as opposed to only five in the previous 12 months.
"These results demonstrate a good performance in a difficult year," said RFU finance director Nick Eastwood in a statement.
"The RFU results always benefit in those years when we have three home Six Nations games and a fourth autumn international."
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The results for the year ending June 30th also show turnover increased by 20 percent to $196 million while the net worth of the RFU rose by six percent to $247.8 million.
RFU chief executive Francis Baron added: "We have a vision to turn Twickenham into a 365 day a year business and it is pleasing to see we are already making progress towards this goal."
The RFU admitted, however, that the recession had taken its toll with hospitality sales down 40 percent.
(Reporting by Toby Davis, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
