Five-a-side football centres operator eyes repeat of first-half performance

The group, which has sites in Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford and Hull, said trading in the second half of July and August was softer than expected, after a strong performance in the first half of the year.

The operator of five-a-side soccer centres also said it is yet to resolve a dispute with the UK tax authority – Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – related to block bookings for its pitches.

In July, the company, which operates 43 centres, said it was landed with an extra VAT bill by the HMRC that could hit profits and sales by £625,000 a year.

The recent softening followed a strong first half of the year, with revenues up by 11 per cent to £14.7m in the six months to June and like-for-like sales up by three per cent.

Underlying profits also rose by eight per cent to £4.1m.

The core football pitch business increased first-half revenues by four per cent, but ancillary services such as bars and vending, parties and corporate events all saw revenues decline.

The group said it still intends to open a minimum of four new sites in 2012, but two centres planned for this year have been delayed while it assesses the success of a new building method at Chester.

Goals opened four centres in the first half – in Hull, Sunderland, Liverpool and Norwich – and had intended to open three more centres this year, but will now just focus on Chester, which will be a modular build where the buildings are brought in and assembled on site.

Using modular buildings could save the company £700,000 or almost a third off the current cost of opening a new centre and reduce the build time from 22 weeks to 14 weeks.

A typical Goals centre has between nine and 14 floodlit courts with pitches made from artificial grass.