With so many companies blaming the World Cup for declining sales, you may have expected Goals Soccer Centres to be one of those to benefit. In fact, the overall impact was neutral as increased enthusiasm before and afterwards was cancelled out by fewer players during the event itself. In fact, in the first half, Goals managed like-for-like sales growth of 5 per cent. That's below the 9 per cent reported for the whole of last year, although managing director Keith Rogers hopes for a higher rate in the second half.
Still, the key to long-term growth will remain site openings. Five new centres were opened this year, bringing the total to 21, and one more is under construction. And at least five more are expected in 2007. They cost £1.8m each to open, but Goals should have no problem funding the expansion because, although debt is high, interest cover is comfortable. Broker Charles Stanley expects pre-tax profits of £4.95m this year (from £2.8m in 2005), giving EPS of 8.3p.
| Ord price: 248p | Market value: £104m |
|---|---|
| Touch: 245-250p | 12-month High: 267p Low: 135p |
| Dividend yield: 0.3% | PE ratio: 48 |
| Net asset value: 38p | Net debt: 130% |
| Half-year | Turnover | Pre-tax | Earnings per | Dividend per |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| to 30 Jun | (£m) | profit (£m) | share (p) | share (p) |
| 2005 | 5.50 | 1.19 | 1.9 | nil |
| 2006 | 7.45 | 2.05 | 3.2 | 0.3 |
| % change | +35 | +72 | +68 | - |
