The chilly spring was enough to keep fair-weather footballers at home, kicking a hole in half-year pre-tax profit at Goals Soccer Centres, the five-a-side football business.
New chairman Keith Edelman also said midweek footballers staying off the booze had dented revenues. That, plus Goals’ spending £300,000 on its head office to focus on expansion, sent pre-tax profit falling 7% from £4.4 million in the first half last year to £4.1 million this year.
Parents spending more on children’s birthday parties at Goals and an increase in lucrative corporate events, helped the firm’s overall revenues rise 2% to £16.6 million but the actual business of hiring everyday pitches was flat.
Signs of consumers still feeling the pain were evident in Goals’ bar tabs and vending machines: they represent 16% of total sales, but declined by 7% in the first half. Edelman conceded health-conscious footballers were part of the reason. “Our midweek bar sales, in common with other operators in the leisure industry, have declined as customers have reduced their mid-week alcohol intake,” he said, adding: “Weekend bar sales have been maintained.”
In the US, where Goals opened its first overseas centre in Los Angeles in 2010, sales jumped 35% to £500,000. There was no suggestion of more overseas sites in the near future. Shares dropped 1p to 151p.
