The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) appears to be weathering the economic storm.
The society, celebrating 230 years as a driving force in Scotland’s rural life, has produced financial results very similar to those of a year earlier and showing good recovery from the dreadful weather which battered its flagship event, the Royal Highland Show, in 2012.
The annual report shows turnover for the year to November 30 2013 was £6.64 million, compared with £6.72m in 2012. The reduction on the year was mainly as a result of reduced bequests.
The main source of income for the society was the Royal Highland Show at £3.7m, an increase of around £200,000 and mainly due to more admissions.
The cost of staging the show, however, rose by more than £90,000 to £1.7m.
Other main income streams included membership subscriptions and rents at £1.39m, and the Royal Highland Centre at £1.08m.
With expenditure at £5.54m, up from £5.38m, the operating surplus came out at £1.10m compared to £1.33m in 2012.
Much of the increased expenditure was due to investment in ground works at the Ingliston show ground .
RHASS chairman Allan Murray said: “After the trauma of 2012, when torrential rain and flooding played havoc, last year saw a welcome return to the sort of attendance levels we have become accustomed to, with 170,000 visitors.
“An investment of £400,000 in road surfaces, drainage and contingency car parking ensured easy access and good ground conditions and these improvements, and others to come, will deliver benefit in the long term,” he said.
The year’s activity has seen the balance sheet strengthened by £1m, and it now stands at a healthy £13.1m.
“All of our charitable and development activity is dependent on a healthy bottom line and a strong balance sheet, and our accounts for 2013 deliver on both fronts.
“Although our operating surplus is slightly down on the year, the society remains in a sound financial position,” added Mr Murray.
Mr Murray praised the Royal Highland Education Trust, which receives core funding of almost £150,000 from the society, and which is now an integral part of the education process in Scotland.
In all, RHASS spends £400,000 a year on grants and awards, amply fulfilling its support of Scottish agriculture.
However, one organisation which will not benefit this year is the Scottish National Fatstock Club with no support on offer for its Winter Fair, which is to move from Ingliston to Lanark market. RHASS is instead to fund a scholars’ group.
Asked if this was the end of RHASS aspirations to be involved a national winter event, chief executive Stephen Hutt said: “We have not completely abandoned the concept of a winter show. If a Scottish winter show could be shown to be of real benefit to the whole industry, then we would be interested.”
Of course the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston already hosts AgriScot, and it is unlikely that RHASS would want to jeopardise its success.
Attracting events to Ingliston was proving challenging in the present economic climate, admitted Mr Hutt.
The accounts show Royal Highland Centre turnover down £170,000 on the year. In part this could be accounted for by the fact that a number of regular events are held either every second or every third year, and 2013 happened to be a quieter year.
There is, however, increasing competition from the extended Edinburgh International Conference Centre and the newly opened Hydro in Glasgow.
The Royal Highland Centre would continue to compete strongly, but the ambitious master plan for the Ingliston site remains a long-term project with progress limited to date.
The construction of a major new hotel next to the airport remains key to financing the creation of a dramatic new eastern approach to the showground, but this has made slow progress throughout the worst of the recession.
“It is not on hold, though,” Mr Hutt said. “Developers have been thin on the ground, but we are now talking seriously to a number of parties.
“We are, however, currently investing internally in the showground with the peripheral track being improved to allow us to host motoring-type events.
“Also the Highland Hall, although it might seem new, is actually 15 years old and in need of some refurbishments and replacements.”
The Royal Highland Show from June 19 to 22 will as always be RHASS’s major event, but this year it is to be joined by an Eat Food and Drink Scotland event on September 12 and 13.