Goals Soccer Centres kicks on after first half loss

12th Sep 2018 08:27

(Sharecast News) - Five-a-side football pitch operator Goals Soccer Centre said that it has returned to growth after poor weather saw a swing to a loss in the first half of the year.Having already issued a profit warning in July and flagged the likely, the AIM-traded company said the six months ended 30 June had produced a loss before tax of £1.1m, slipping from a profit of £2.6m in the same period last year.This resulted from sales dropping 7% to £16.2m, with the company shelling out £2.7m in relation to the impairment of an underperforming site and restructuring costs.Chief executive Andy Anson, the former Manchester Utd and ATP director who joined at the end of April, said: "I am greatly encouraged by our performance in recent weeks which has seen the business fully recoup the financial effects of the extreme weather and moved us into positive like-for-like sales territory for the year to date."The AIM traded company reported that trading has normalised following an anticipated slowdown during the World Cup, leaving the board optimistic about the trading outlook for the remainder of the year.At the year's midpoint, net debt stood at £30.2m, up by 6% from the same point last year, and cash and cash equivalents were up 9% at £2.3m."As I carry out my review of the business I am delighted by the underlying performance of the sites where we have invested vindicating our strategy to upgrade our estate. As we move forward I will be focusing on completing the investment strategy effectively, adapting where appropriate and delivering to shareholders the performance that Goals is capable of," said Anson.Investment has been used to fully modernise 260 of the company's 460 pitches and a planned £3m modernisation of a further 78 arenas is scheduled for completion by early October.Peel Hunt upgraded the company to 'buy' from 'add' in the wake of the results, increasing its target price for shares in the company to 100p from 90p.The broker said that like-for-like sales had recovered so strongly that they were now "ahead of expectations" and highlighted the positives of the pitch-upgrade project by pointing out that clubs with five or more upgraded pitches achieve sales 10% higher than non-upgraded clubs.Goals Soccer Centre's shares were up 3.52% at 73.50p at 0845 BST.