10th Mar 2014 11:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - Goals Soccer Centres PLC said Monday full-year revenue and pretax profit figures were in line with the previous year, as the firm announced a share placing of approximately 5.3 million new shares to fund its expansion plans.
The 5-a-side soccer centre operator said pretax profit came in at GBP9.6 million, up 2% on 2012. Revenue for the year was GBP33.7 million, up from GBP33.0 million the previous year.
The firm - which has 43 centres in the UK - said sales in the 12 months to December 31, 2013, rose 4% to GBP33.7 million from GBP32.5 million last year.
Goals declared a final dividend of 1.175p per share taking the total for the year to 1.85p net per share, unchanged from 2012.
The company also confirmed that it is accelerating its plans for expansion in the UK and US - Goals also has one site in Los Angeles - to be funded in new capital raised through the placing of approximately 9.9% of Goals' existing issued share capital.
The successful placing, led by Canaccord Genuity Ltd, raised GBP11.4 million through the placing of 5,279,267 shares at 0.25 pence each, the company said Monday.
With the raised funds, Goals plans to open two new centres in the UK by 2015, and three in the US by 2016.
The firm is also planning to launch a new website and mobile app during the second quarter of the year in order to make better the experience and improve convenience for team organisers and players, said Goals, which could see some users deal with pitch booking and fixture arranging completely online.
Keith Rogers, Managing Director of Goals said, "Our decision to focus on the operational delivery of the business in 2013 and further grow returns in the existing estate has proved to be the right one. The business reviews have been completed, the key recommendation implemented and the Board strengthened and the benefits of which have started to come through in the second half and have continued into 2014.
"With the placing funds Goals is well positioned to kick-start a controlled roll-out in the UK and capitalise on its first mover advantage in the US. I am confident that with our re-engineered modular build concept this will deliver significant on-going value to our shareholders," he said.
Looking ahead, the firm said that trading in the first eight week of 2014 has been good, citing more favourable weather conditions than during the comparable period last year. "As a result of on-going initiatives including the planned launch of our new app and website in Q2 2014, the strength of the core business and the improving economic backdrop we are confident of making further progress during this year and beyond," said the company in a statement.
Shares in the company were trading up 3.93% at 225.00 pence per share Monday morning.
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
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