Goals Soccer Centres dives after profit warning

Shares in Goals Soccer Centres took a dive after the five-a-side football venue operator warned over its pre-tax profit for the full year following challenging trading in the UK.

The company, which operates 46 centres in the UK and one in Los Angeles, said that trading in the UK business over the summer holiday period had continued to be challenging since its first warning in September.

While it has made progress since then, delivering week-on-week sales improvements, the speed of the recovery has not been at the level hoped.

As a result - and if bad weather holds off - Goals now expects pre-tax profit for the current financial year to be in the range of £8.2m to £8.6m. This is down from the £9.3m to £9.8m range it set out at its interims, which had also been cut.

Goals shares plummeted in September after it downgraded its guidance for the full year citing challenging market conditions and posted flat sales for the first half, with a 1% rise in underlying pre-tax profit.

The company had said sales for the first nine weeks of the second had been challenging in the UK, with like-for-like sales over the summer period down by 10% due to tough comparable trading last year with the World Cup, and amid a significant increase in league and casual teams cancelling over the holiday period.

At 1145 GMT, shares were down 15% at 131.07p, having been touching 240p in the spring.