Deep dive · Golf championships · Accounts to December 2025

Inside the accounts · How does The R&A really make its money?

The company that stages The Open has no employees: a sister company charged it £31.9m for administration

R&A Championships Limited is the company in The R&A group that stages The Open. Its accounts for 2025, the year of the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush, show £151.6m of turnover and £0.7m of profit after tax. They show where the money comes from, how little is kept, the £3.0m dividend to its parent, and a company with no employees of its own: the people who run The Open are paid for through a £31.9m charge from a sister company. Where a figure says something about how golf's biggest championship is run, we explain it.

CompanyR&A Championships Limited · SC247047

AccountsAccounts to December 2025 PDF ↗

ByJames Sproule · 28 September 2026

Reading time9 min read

£151.6mTurnover, up 0.6%, mostly from The Open

£0.7mProfit after tax, down from £3.4m: 49p in every £100

£31.9mManagement charge from a sister company; the company has no employees

£3.0mDividend to its parent, four times the year's profit

In 60 words

The answer

The R&A's championship company makes its money from The Open. Most of its £151.6m of turnover in 2025 came from broadcasting and sponsorship rights, sold on long-term contracts and mostly paid in US dollars. Staging its championships cost £112.5m. It has no staff: a sister company charged £31.9m for administration. It kept £0.7m after tax and paid its parent a £3.0m dividend.

The rhythm of the business

One Open in each financial year

The company's year is the calendar year, and "revenue from golf championships is recognised in the period in which the championship is staged" (p. 20). So each set of accounts holds one Open. In 2025 the company "successfully staged the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush, the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl and partnered with the DP World Tour to stage the Senior Open at Sunningdale" (p. 2). It also promoted and funded "an extensive programme of amateur championships, both in the UK and internationally".

Three professional championships in one summer, 2025Revenue from a championship is recognised in the year it is staged (p20), so the calendar year holds one Open.

JFMAMJJASOND

The Open, Royal Portrush

Senior Open, Sunningdale

AIG Women's Open, Royal Porthcawl

Amateur championships

UK and international, through the year

Strategic report, p2; accounting policy, p20. Dates and months are background, not from the accounts.

Years ahead

Venues and contracts

"The venues for our championships are selected several years in advance", and rights income is "secured through long term contracts, negotiated well in advance of the event" (pp. 3 and 7).

Staggered expiry dates

Before each Open

Insured and hedged

Cancellation insurance is taken out "in advance of each Open", and forward contracts lock in the sterling value of dollar income "a number of years into the future" (pp. 3 and 23).

£3.2m of currency contracts in credit

July

The Open

The championship "typically delivers over £150 million in economic benefit to the host region each year", in the directors' words (p. 5).

£151.6m turnover

After

Costs, grants, dividend

Cost of sales and the group management charge take almost all of it. The company also funds amateur golf and golf development "through the provision of grant funding" (p. 8).

£0.7m kept, £3.0m paid up

Background, not from the accountsThe Open is played every July on a rotation of links courses. The 2024 Open was at Royal Troon, so both years in these accounts held one. Royal Portrush, in Northern Ireland, last hosted it in 2019; The R&A reported about 278,000 spectators in 2025. The accounts give no attendance or ticket figures.

The income statement

The Open on one page

The income statement is short: turnover, cost of sales, administrative expenses and a little bank interest (p. 16). Almost everything the company spends is in the two cost lines. The notes break out only the group management charge, depreciation, a lease and the audit fee.

From £151.6m of turnover to £0.7m of profit, 2025Operating profit was £1.4m. Bank interest added £0.6m and tax took £1.3m.

Totals
Costs and charges
Income and credits

Statement of comprehensive income, p16.

For every £100 of turnover, the company kept 49pPer £100 of turnover. Costs took £99.05; interest added 41p and tax took 87p.

Cost of salesstaging the championships; not broken down£74.17

Management chargefrom R&A Group Services Limited£21.04

Other admin expenses£3.84

Taxincluding £0.8m of foreign tax£0.87

Back in: bank interest£0.41

Kept as profitthen a £3.0m dividend to the parent£0.49

Statement of comprehensive income, p16; note 7, p24. Our split.

£1.4m

operating profit, down from £4.5m. Turnover rose less than £1m; cost of sales fell £1.3m, to £112.5m, but admin expenses rose £5.2m, to £37.7m (p. 16).

0.9%

operating margin, against 3.0% in 2024. With £0.6m of bank interest, profit before tax was £2.1m; tax of £1.3m left £0.7m (pp. 16 and 25).

What this means for The R&AThis company isn't run to make a profit for its own sake. Its stated purpose is to stage championships, "support the development of golf nationally and internationally through the provision of grant funding" and promote sustainable golf courses (p. 8). The strategic report measures the year by the championships staged and "delivering golf development and sustainability initiatives around the world", not by margin (p. 2). A profit of 49p in every £100 is what is left once those are paid for.

Turnover

Where the money comes from

One line of turnover. Note 4 gives no split at all: turnover is "the amounts derived from the provision of goods and services which fall within the Company's activities", and "materially all of the Company's turnover is derived in the United Kingdom" (p. 23). That was £151,607,000, up from £150,650,000.

Rights are the engine. The strategic report is clearer: "The majority of the Company's income is derived from the sale of rights in relation to The Open including broadcasting rights and sponsorship rights", sold to "broadcasters/sponsors in a range of territories around the world" (p. 3). The increase in 2025 was "driven by revenues from The Open" (p. 2).

Paid in dollars. "The majority of the Company's income from broadcasters/sponsors is denominated in foreign currencies", principally US dollars, so the company sells expected dollar receipts forward (pp. 3 and 4). It also sells agronomy services: during the year it signed "several agreements with customers in respect of the delivery of agronomy services" (p. 7).

UK, in dollars

The turnover is earned in the UK, where the championships are staged, but most of the rights income is paid in foreign currency by buyers around the world (pp. 3 and 23). That is also why the company paid £809,000 of foreign tax (p. 25).

£21.9m

of trade debtors at the year end, up from £17.8m, and £10.4m of prepayments and accrued income, up from £7.3m (p. 28).

What this means for The R&AThe Open is sold years in advance to broadcasters and sponsors, so this income is largely fixed before a ball is struck. The directors say they reduce the risk "by contracting with a diverse group of broadcasters/sponsors and also by entering into long-term contracts with staggered expiry dates", and that the buyers "are generally strong financially" (p. 3). The risk they name is that "changes in market conditions" could reduce what those rights fetch.

Not disclosed. The accounts don't split turnover between broadcasting, sponsorship, tickets, hospitality, merchandise and agronomy services, or between The Open, the AIG Women's Open and the Senior Open. They give no ticket sales, attendance or ticket prices, and don't name any broadcaster or sponsor.

The finding

A £151.6m business with no employees

Note 7 is two sentences long: "The Company has no employees (2024: nil). A management charge of £31.9 million (2024: £27.5 million) in respect of administration costs has been made by R&A Group Services Limited, a fellow subsidiary" (p. 24). The company has no payroll of its own. Whoever works on its championships is employed elsewhere, and the charge covers "administration costs", which "include certain directors' remuneration".

The biggest cost it names. £31.9m is 85% of the £37.7m of administrative expenses, and £21.04 of every £100 of turnover. It rose 16%, or £4.4m: most of the £5.2m rise in admin expenses, and more than the £3.0m fall in operating profit (pp. 16 and 24).

Directors' pay is allocated. "Certain directors of the Company receive remuneration covering their services as directors and/or executives across a number of group companies." The share allocated to this company was £180,000, down from £196,000. There is no highest-paid director figure (p. 24).

A changed board. Eight directors served in 2025. Six resigned on 4 March 2026 and two were appointed that day (p. 8). The report doesn't say why.

The management charge rose £4.4m, to £31.9mAdmin expenses rose £5.2m in all. Operating profit fell £3.0m.

Management charge from R&A Group Services
Other admin expenses

Statement of comprehensive income, p16; note 7, p24. The charge is given to £0.1m.

The few costs the accounts break out, 2025The management charge is £31.9m of the £37.7m of admin expenses. The £112.5m cost of sales isn't broken down at all.

Management chargethe company has no employees£31.9m

Royal and Ancient Golf Clubproperty costs and admin£1.6m

The R&A Foundationproperty costs and admin£960k

Foreign tax suffered£809k

Depreciation£704k

Lease rentals, land and buildings£225k

Directors' pay, allocatedshare of group pay£180k

Amortisationsoftware£122k

World Golf Museum£111k

Audit fee£40k

Notes 5 to 8, 10 and 24, pp24–31.

What this means for The R&APutting everyone in one service company and recharging each part of the group is a common way to run a group: it keeps one payroll and shares people who work across the championships, the Rules and golf development. The effect is that this company's accounts can't tell you how many people it takes to stage The Open, what they are paid, or how much of the £31.9m is pay rather than offices, systems and other overheads. The charge is given only to £0.1m.

Not disclosed. The number of people the management charge covers, how it is calculated, and how it splits between staff costs and other costs. Temporary championship staff, contractors and volunteers aren't mentioned. R&A Group Services Limited's own figures are in its accounts and the group's, not these.

Tax

Tax took 64% of pre-tax profit

Why tax took 64% of pre-tax profitFrom the UK rate to the actual charge. Foreign tax added £606,000 and expenses that can't be deducted £201,000.

Tax at the UK rate of 25%on £2.1m of profit before tax£515k

Foreign tax, net of deductions£809k suffered in all£606k

Expenses not deductible£201k

Earlier years£6k

Income not taxablereduces the bill-£7k

Tax charge for the year64% of profit before tax£1.3m

Note 10, pp25–26.

£1.3m of tax on £2.1m of profit. The UK rate is 25%, which would have been £515,000. The charge was £1,321,000 (pp. 25 and 26).

Mostly foreign tax. The company "suffered" £809,000 of foreign tax, up from £607,000; net of deductions it added £606,000 to the bill. Expenses that can't be deducted added £201,000 (p. 26). UK corporation tax for the year was only £309,000 after a £141,000 credit for earlier years (p. 25).

A £203,000 deferred tax charge, mostly adjustments for earlier years, completes the total (pp. 25 and 30).

What this means for The R&AForeign tax "suffered" is usually tax withheld abroad on payments to a UK company, such as rights fees. The UK gives relief for it only up to the UK tax on the same income, so when profit is thin, as it was in 2025, much of it can't be offset. That is our reading, not a statement in the accounts. The effect is plain in the numbers: in 2024, on a £5.3m profit, the effective rate was 35%.

Not disclosed. Which countries the foreign tax was paid in, or on what income.

The group

The Club, the Foundation and the Museum

What passes between the company and its sister bodiesExpenditure is 'property costs and administrative expenses'. Dealings with the parent and fellow subsidiaries aren't listed.

2024
2025

Royal and Ancient Golf Club: paid£1,625k

The R&A Foundation: paid£960k

The R&A Foundation: received£938k

World Golf Museum: paid£111k

Golf Museum Services: received£30k

Note 24, p31.

Sister bodies, named. Note 24 lists dealings with four "sister entities under common control". The company paid The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews £1,625,000, up from £1,486,000. It paid The R&A Foundation £960,000 and received £938,000 from it. The R&A World Golf Museum received £111,000 and Golf Museum Services paid the company £30,000 (p. 31).

What the payments are. "Expenditure comprises property costs and administrative expenses" (p. 31). At the year end the company owed the Foundation £950,000, against £20,000 a year earlier, and the Club £302,000.

What isn't listed. "The Company has taken advantage of the exemption in FRS 102 not to disclose transactions with its parent undertaking and fellow wholly owned subsidiaries" (p. 31). Only the management charge is given, in note 7.

R&A Rules Limited

Another group company "governs the sport worldwide outside the United States and Mexico" (p. 5). The Rules aren't this company's job; the championships are.

£23,000

of deferred grants on the balance sheet, down from £56,000 (p. 30). It is the only grant figure in the accounts.

What this means for The R&AThe payments to the Club are for property and administration, and are small beside the company's turnover: about £1 in every £100. The accounts don't show any of the surplus from The Open being passed to the Club. The one payment out to owners is the £3.0m dividend to the group's holding company, R&A Trust Company (No.1) Limited (p. 2), and these accounts don't say what the holding company does with it.

Background, not from the accountsThe Royal and Ancient Golf Club is a private members' golf club in St Andrews. In 2004 it passed its work running The Open and governing the game to a separate group of companies, known as The R&A. The R&A Foundation is its charity. The group says it reinvests the surplus from The Open in developing golf around the world.

Not disclosed. How much the company spent on grants and golf development in 2025, though grant funding is part of its principal activity (p. 8). Prize money and payments to host venues are also not given; they are presumably in cost of sales, which isn't broken down.

Balance sheet

Cash pooled with the group

Most of the company's money sits with the group£42.7m of £89.5m of current assets is owed by group companies, repayable on demand and interest-free.

Owed by the group (cash pool)
Trade debtors
Cash
Prepayments and other

Statement of financial position, p17; note 14, p28.

The money sits with the group. The company had £8.0m of cash, but £42.7m was owed to it by group companies, down from £53.5m. That balance "arising from Group financing arrangements" is "repayable on demand and non-interest bearing" (pp. 17 and 28).

Relying on the parent. The going concern basis rests on the parent's promise of support to December 2027, because the company "is a participant in the Group cash pooling arrangement and therefore as a result, ultimately relies on the liquidity of the Group" (p. 9).

The group is well funded. At 31 March 2026 the group had £30.4m of cash and £156.3m of investments, "of which approximately 64% have daily liquidity" (p. 9).

A dividend bigger than the profit. The company paid £3.0m, £3 a share, to R&A Trust Company (No.1) Limited; it paid nothing in 2024 (pp. 2 and 30). With profit of £0.7m, net assets fell from £33.4m to £31.1m (p. 18).

A hedge that nets out. The dollar weakened "significantly" against sterling in 2025. The forward contracts became an asset of £3.2m and the matching commitment a liability of £3.3m, reversing 2024's positions (pp. 28 and 29). The two sides almost cancel, which is what the hedge is for.

£54.2m of accruals and deferred income, up from £48.3m, is the biggest liability. The note doesn't split costs owed from money received in advance (p. 29). There are no borrowings.

Net assets fell £2.3m, as the dividend exceeded the profitProfit of £0.7m, less a £3.0m dividend to R&A Trust Company (No.1) Limited.

Net assets

Statement of changes in equity, p18.

What this means for The R&ABecause cash is pooled, the £0.6m of bank interest here isn't a measure of what The Open's money earns: the group's £156.3m of investments are held elsewhere. The strategic report says surplus cash goes into "short-term money market funds including certificates of deposit, fixed rate and floating rate bonds" (p. 3). The company's own reserves, £31.1m, are about a fifth of a year's turnover.

Not disclosed. Why the dividend was paid in 2025, or what the parent used it for. The size of any gain or loss on the currency contracts. The credit risk note refers to "long term loans" and assessing "the accounts and cash flow forecasts of the applicants" (p. 3), but no loans receivable appear on the balance sheet.

Ownership

Who owns the company behind The Open

1,000,000

£1 shares

All owned by R&A Trust Company (No.1) Limited, registered in Scotland, which prepares the group's consolidated accounts (pp. 6, 30 and 31).

The Club

Ultimate control

"The ultimate controlling parent company and ultimate controlling party is The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews" (p. 31).

Nil

Directors' shares

"None of the directors during the year held a beneficial interest in the issued share capital of the Company" (p. 8).

What this means for The R&AThere are no outside shareholders. The chain runs from this company to a holding company and up to a members' golf club, so the dividend stays inside the group. What the group does with the surplus is in the consolidated accounts of R&A Trust Company (No.1) Limited, not these.

In the directors' words

The risks they name

The Company is exposed to the risk that this income stream may reduce through changes in market conditions which adversely affect broadcasting and sponsorship rights.
Principal risks, p. 3

The Company also enters into cancellation insurance policies in advance of each Open to protect against the risk of losing income if the event were to be cancelled or curtailed for reasons beyond the Company's control.
Principal risks, p. 3

The Company's principal transactions in foreign currency are denominated in US dollars.
Foreign currency risk, p. 4

In plain termsThe Open depends on what broadcasters and sponsors will pay, on the event going ahead, and on the dollar. The company answers each in turn: long contracts with many buyers, cancellation insurance for each Open, and forward currency contracts set at group level (pp. 3 and 4). The directors expect its financial position in 2026 "will continue to be strong" (p. 2).

Not disclosed. The cost of the cancellation insurance, how far ahead rights are contracted, and how much of future income is hedged. The accounts don't mention the split in men's professional golf or LIV Golf.

Two years side by side

Year on year

2025 against 2024Percentage change, one scale. Both years held an Open.

Turnover£150.7m → £151.6m+1%

Cost of sales£113.7m → £112.5m-1%

Admin expenses£32.5m → £37.7m+16%

Management charge£27.5m → £31.9m+16%

Operating profit£4.5m → £1.4m-68%

Bank interest£0.8m → £0.6m-26%

Tax£1.9m → £1.3m-29%

Profit after tax£3.4m → £0.7m-78%

Directors' pay, allocated£196k → £180k-8%

Cash at year end£5.1m → £8.0m+58%

Net assets£33.4m → £31.1m-7%

Statement of comprehensive income p16, statement of financial position p17, notes 7, 8 and 10, pp24–26.

Show the figures as a table

Measure	2025	2024
Turnover	£151.6m	£150.7m
Cost of sales	£112.5m	£113.7m
Administrative expenses	£37.7m	£32.5m
of which management charge	£31.9m	£27.5m
Operating profit	£1.4m	£4.5m
Bank interest	£0.6m	£0.8m
Profit before tax	£2.1m	£5.3m
Tax	£1.3m	£1.9m
Profit after tax	£0.7m	£3.4m
Dividend to parent	£3.0m	nil
Employees	nil	nil
Directors' pay, allocated	£180,000	£196,000
Foreign tax suffered	£809,000	£607,000
Cash at year end	£8.0m	£5.1m
Owed by group companies	£42.7m	£53.5m
Net assets	£31.1m	£33.4m

Both years held an Open: Royal Portrush in 2025 and, as background, Royal Troon in 2024. There is no cash flow statement; the company uses the FRS 102 exemption (p. 19).

Quick answers

Questions about The R&A

How does The R&A really make its money?

Where does The R&A's money come from?

Mostly from The Open. R&A Championships Limited had £151.6m of turnover in 2025, and the directors say 'the majority of the Company's income is derived from the sale of rights in relation to The Open including broadcasting rights and sponsorship rights', sold on long-term contracts to buyers around the world and mostly paid in US dollars. The accounts don't split turnover further.

How much profit does The Open make?

The company that stages it made an operating profit of £1.4m in 2025 on £151.6m of turnover, and £0.7m after tax, down from £3.4m. Cost of sales was £112.5m and administrative expenses £37.7m, of which £31.9m was a management charge from R&A Group Services Limited. The accounts don't give a separate profit for The Open.

How many people work for R&A Championships Limited?

None. 'The Company has no employees (2024: nil).' It pays a management charge, £31.9m in 2025, up from £27.5m, to R&A Group Services Limited, a fellow subsidiary, for administration costs, which include certain directors' pay. The accounts don't say how many people that covers.

Who owns The R&A's championship company?

All 1,000,000 shares are owned by R&A Trust Company (No.1) Limited. The ultimate controlling party is The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. The company paid a £3.0m dividend to its parent in 2025 and none in 2024.

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