Goals warns on profits after ‘challenging’ summer

Five-a-side football pitch operator Goals Soccer Centres has delivered another profit warning on the back of tough trading.

Keith Rogers, chief executive of Goals Soccer Centres

The East Kilbride-based firm, which has 46 centres across the UK and one in Los Angeles, said trading on home turf over the summer holiday period had been “challenging”.

As a result, the Aim-quoted company said it expects to post a pre-tax profit of between £8.2 million and £8.6m for the current financial year – well below its previous forecast.

In September, Goals reported a 1 per cent fall in UK sales and said like-for-like takings over the summer holidays had dropped by 10 per cent.

At the time, the firm predicted a pre-tax profit of between £9.3m and £9.8m for the full year, below City analysts’ forecasts.

Goals, led by chief executive Keith Rogers, said it has made progress since September, delivering week-on-week sales improvements, but “the speed of this recovery has not been at the level anticipated”.

It added: “In view of this, the board now anticipates that profit before tax for the current financial year will be in the range of £8.2m to £8.6m, predicated on the absence of adverse weather conditions.”