The Varsity Match at Twickenham was a fitting occasion for Rhino's Chairman of five years, Andrew Moss, to hand over to his successor Marcus Rule.
On a day that saw Cambridge University defeat Oxford University to take home The Rhino Trophy, financial entrepreneur and former prop Rule was following in the footsteps of his fellow ex-Oxford front rower Moss.
Moss has held the role of chair at Rhino during five years of considerable development for the brand. During his tenure, the group acquired Powa Products of New Zealand (2012); sealed a license with United World Sports of the US to cover Americas (2014); and only last year they signed a significant licensing deal with leading Japanese trading house, Itochu.
Moss commented of his time at Rhino: “I have enjoyed my five years as Rhino Chairman enormously and feel we have made significant progress during that time towards being a leading global rugby brand with increasing geographical and product reach and I am excited by our prospects around Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan in particular. I am pleased to remain a significant shareholder and look forward to seeing Marcus take the group on to the next stage."
Rule followed a career in the City by founding Rule Financial in 1997 and grew the specialist banking IT group to a turnover of £60 million with 800 staff across six countries before selling it last year to the German business GFT.
Rule said of his appointment: “I am looking forward tremendously to the challenge of continuing Rhino’s growth, and in particular as the group looks increasingly to growth markets in Asia and the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019."
Reg Clark, Group CEO commented: “On behalf of all Rhino’s stakeholders I would like to sincerely thank Andrew for his tremendous efforts on behalf of the group. His Chairmanship has witnessed a rapid growth of our business, and tremendous progress on many fronts. I am also personally excited about the prospects of working with Marcus who has recently shown a remarkable record in building shareholder value in a growth business – he and Andrew apart from anything else also share a tremendous enthusiasm for the game and business of rugby. Passion for rugby at all levels from international to grass roots is an integral part of Rhino’s brand DNA."
