Nearly all rugby unions competing in the Mitre 10 Cup improved their financial performances last year and posted their best combined surplus in a decade.
The provincial competition involves 14 semi-professional and amateur teams from across New Zealand.
Finances of the teams - Canterbury, Counties-Manukau, North Harbour, Taranaki, Tasman, Waikato, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Northland, Otago, Southland, Hawke's Bay and Manawatu - were analysed by professional services firm Deloitte for the latest State of the Unions report.
For the first time since 2013, all 14 unions posted surpluses in the 2016 financial year, Deloitte says.
Collectively they recorded combined surpluses of $3.5 million last year compared to joint losses of $1.4m in 2015.