'We reached some important milestones' - Vaughan

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has released its 114th annual report in which it announced a profit of $2.905 million before distributions to major and district associations.

Distributions to major and district Associations of $10.492m, including player back pays of $1.2m, resulted in a loss of $7.586m in the 2007-08 financial year. This compares with a budgeted loss after distributions of $3.03m, excluding the player payment adjustments.

"The 2007-08 financial year was the second of the current four-year cycle. NZC operates on a four-year cycle due to variations in revenue over the four-year period arising from ICC events such as the World Cup and inbound tours from the likes of England and India," NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said. "Overall for the four years ending May 31, 2010, NZC is forecasting a surplus result.

"During the past financial year we reached some important milestones in our efforts to drive New Zealand Cricket and the sport of cricket to new heights, including entering into an international broadcasting rights agreement with Sony Entertainment Television and amended our Master Agreement with contracted players to greatly increase their incomes.

Vaughan said: "Our 2007-2011 Strategic Plan Pushing Beyond Boundaries was launched in the past year and outlined the strategic objectives the organisation is aiming for.

"There have been strong indications we are progressing successfully towards achieving these. As well as financial achievements over the past year we also registered significant success in our high performing teams as well as grass-roots development, where for the first time we had over 100,000 registered participants."