Goals Soccer Centres Share Discussion Threads

[lobby ludd] 03/7/2008 12:06

TRADING STATMENT TODAY.... 'no sign of softening in demand'.....'trading in line with expectations'.....'confident of another excellent year'.

Let's hope this is picked up by the press tomorrow.

[simonhollingsworth] 03/7/2008 09:48

and i said they would release an update! i'm buying in...gonna enjoy watching these short sellers squirm

[shazzybabes1] 03/7/2008 07:54

i would start buying now. I said results would be decent

[shazzybabes1] 02/7/2008 21:28

I can say that the lad who works there says nobody is worried and all these sellers are leaving imo rather early. Directors could do with comin out with a statement about price drop or maybe look to buy shares to maybe give confidence to investors. Very Dissapointing that the price has drifted so low on no negativity. Remember they make moneyfrom selling fresh air and that dosent cost much.

[cupasoup2006] 02/7/2008 18:10

just looked back over their past results - very impressive annual growth - as you said, always delivered!

[shazzybabes1] 02/7/2008 17:40

I can tell you the company is doing ok and things will probably be better in the next 6 months. I visit one of their sites regular and know a lad who is is knowledgable AND HE SAYS THEY HAVE PERFORMED WELL. They are suprised on how far it has dropped as they have delivered on their promises.

[cupasoup2006] 02/7/2008 13:17

tend to agree with simon. We actually play at Goals every Thursday and at fiver each, none of us intends to drop our game - been playing too long now and we all look forward to it. From what I can see GOALS has delivered every time and looks well placed to ride out the storm - good defensive stock

[simonhollingsworth] 01/7/2008 12:27

am not sure about downturn vulnerability - intuitively, if 'the belt needs tightening' other things would be hit before you stopped playing football, its only £5 a go and there's as much hype about exercise and diet as there is about the downturn.

Although debt as a percent of total capital decreased at Goals Soccer Centres plc over the last fiscal year to 53.95%, it is still in-line with the Hotels, Restaurants and Leisure industry's norm. Additionally, even though there are not enough liquid assets to satisfy current obligations, Operating Profits are more than adequate to service the debt.

[lobby ludd] 01/7/2008 11:37

Hold - but am a little NERVOUS abouth this one; as it is vulneraboe to a spending downturn, and there is a lack of news on new sites ? And, anyone any info/opinons on its debt levels ?

[simonhollingsworth] 28/5/2008 11:55

Nice article

Fives alive and kicking as demand remains for people wanting to play the shorter game version regularly
Netting the profits

By Peter Sharkey

Published: 28/05/2008

SWEET SUCCESS: Five-a-side company operators are proving an exception to economic downturn
More Pictures

As economic gloom deepens, food prices defy inflation figures and fuel protesters take to the roads to prevent the imposition of a further tax, anyone searching for good economic news may feel they have embarked on a forlorn journey.

Hope is at hand as there is one area of the sport business which is ticking along and doing rather well.

Any company posting a 42% increase in pre-tax profit and a 58% rise in its dividend payment is bound to attract attention, but the business responsible is not involved in oil production, nor is it the beneficiary of another lucrative long-term government hand-out.

Goals Soccer Centres, the smaller of the UK's two main five-a-side operators, the other is Powerleague, recently reported another set of sparkling results which prompted stockbrokers KBC Peel Hunt to say: "Trading remains strong. That is consistent with management experience from the early 1990s when five-a-side showed itself to be recession-proof."

Perhaps that should be virtually recession proof as Goals' share price has fallen slightly since its results were announced, although it has nonetheless trebled in the space of three and a half years.

Powerleague continues to expand. It recently paid JJB Sports £17.5million for a collection of five five-a-side centres deemed to be surplus to the sportswear retailer's requirements.

Across the country, there are an estimated six million regular five-a-side players who use a core of 80 centres to embark on their weekly hobby.

Five-a-side is comparatively cheap on average, an hour's run-out costs less than £5, considerably less than gym membership.

Both Goals and Powerleague are quoted on the stock market and they are among a diminishing number of businesses which appear most immune to economic downturn. According to Goals' chief executive Keith Rogers, there is a constant demand from people wanting to play regularly.

Most no longer have the time required for football's 11-a-side version, nor do they want the longer-term commitment of a gym subscription. "We cater for serious amateurs at one end and for recreational players at the other," he said.

Rogers first recognised five-a-side's appeal in 1987 when he and a business partner established a company called Anchor International. As the pair developed a successful operation, 3i, the private equity firm, was gaining a five-a-side toehold by acquiring Powerplay.

In 1999, Rogers collected £28million by selling Anchor International to 3i, which then merged the two to form Powerleague. The new operation floated on the stock market in May 2005.

Rogers had become involved in a much smaller outfit via a management buy-in assisted by HBOS and another private equity operation, Dunedin Capital, he eventually acquired the business which would become Goals.

The company's blueprint has proved enormously successful. It selects locations where at least 150,000 people live within a 12-15 minute car journey, whereas Powerleague adapts a more flexible approach and is often prepared to position itself in smaller towns. For both companies, sites generally cost between £700,000 and £2.5million to develop before they can begin generating money.

Of the two, Goals' business model has proved the more resilient. It has a current market value of £122million after increasing operating profits from £1.6million in 2003 to £8.4million last year.

Powerleague's performance, by contrast, has been less spectacular. Earlier this week, its share price stood at 67p, an increase of just 12p since it floated, although it has been beyond 110p.

Powerleague is currently worth around £54million after its most recent results showed profits of £6million.

Stephen Broadhurst of sports management com-pany Apex believes there is enormous scope for five-a-side to make additional progress: "Potentially, there are around 250 five-a-side sites in the UK," he said. "There is plenty of spare market capacity which would allow either Goals or Powerleague to expand.

"Of course, there is also scope for a newcomer to enter the market as the cost of entry is not prohibitively expensive.

"Provided average playing costs hover around a fiver, the game's popularity will continue to rise because it's affordable sport.

"From a business perspective, peer pressure is another important factor.

"As team-mates tend to either work together or in close proximity to each other, no-one wants to be the guy who dips out of handing over his £5 for the weekly game. This is hugely significant in making five-a-side resistant to economic downturn."

Planning restrictions have proved an enormous headache. This has led to both Goals and Powerleague, together with virtually every other operator, approaching schools with plans to open new sites on school land. Such flexibility has proved popular with many, but not all schools.

It works with the operator building a new centre and paying the school a nominal rent.

By day, the school's pupils may use the centre free of charge because five-a-side centres are at their busiest immediately after work and at weekends.

Representatives from Goals and Powerleague are busy approaching schools with their plans, eager to expand their centre numbers before saturation point is reached.

Both companies have plans to expand overseas. Goals has already announced proposals for new centres in South Africa and will open a pilot site in Los Angeles later this year.

Meanwhile Powerleague is exploring the possibility of franchising its operation across continental Europe.

Despite understandable concerns about Britain's uncertain near-term economic outlook, the five-a-side business is proving remarkably resistant.

Given the UK market's additional capacity, such enterprises should continue to flourish, at least while unemployment remains in check.

[simonhollingsworth] 08/5/2008 12:25

good post cup. maybe the market thinks it's trading on too high a PE at the moment? who knows, who cares, think it's a fantastic long term hold - really simple, easy to understand business, large scope for expansion both in the UK and abroad, only one direct competitor (and goal makes 1 1/2 times their operating margin), consistent and solid results..if it drops too much more I'll be looking to top up

[cupasoup2006] 08/5/2008 08:08

From what I can see, the director only sold around 40,000 shares out of a holding of 1.5million (around 2%), about hardly a negative signal! Maybe he wants a new car!?
From what i can tell they have a pretty solid model that just keeps rolling out. Re USA and Sotuh Africa, looks like theyve been sensible in their limited approach by granting franchise and limited JV.

[shazzybabes1] 07/5/2008 20:21

A mate of mine works for these and says they have never been busier and they seems to be no slow down in numbers at his place. I bought a few last week after seeing no bad news and the share price slump. Like you say director selling is never good and maybe this has put a downer on the shares.

[lobby ludd] 07/5/2008 17:42

The only other possible negative I can think of would be another knockback of the planning application to develope a centre at Regent's Park.

On the positive side a decent summer would help bring the punter's flocking in, and the like for like figs would compare with last year's washout.

[malc999] 07/5/2008 13:47

When the Finance Director of all people sells 40000 shares at 307p without explanation then that is significant, and will only help to suppress share price performance in the near term. Maybe the general consumer slowdown is resulting in less people visiting Goals?? After all, it is common for most potential buyers to avoid buying into companies when there have been significant director sells in the last 6 months.

In addition to this the company have announced joint ventures in South Africa and California, and joint ventures have a history of not working - for a high profile example look no further than the current shambles at Liverpool FC. Maybe Goals Soccer joint venture will work, only time will tell.

To get the share price heading north in the near term IMHO we need:

1.Some good news from the company which probably wont be until the interim's are released around 1st Sept this year, or
2. A favourable brokers note identifying some positive news that 'the market' isnt currently aware of.

[simonhollingsworth] 07/5/2008 12:43

Can anyone explain the recent drop? Director selling shares? There was some talk before (I think it was here) that the directors selling is more than likely to optimise holdings in light of the options that were awarded awhile ago.

Any thoughts?

[simonhollingsworth] 14/4/2008 14:30

Time for a run!!

[sclothier] 01/4/2008 13:44

Seems to have found a level around the 2.90-3.00 mark. Buying signal?

[cupasoup2006] 31/3/2008 15:24

I agree - very encouraging!

[free willy 2] 31/3/2008 09:16

By way of helpful information, the directors of Goals have recently been granted options. The eps growth criteria which must be met to allow the directors to exercise the options give a very comforting view of Goals' (minimum?)anticipated eps growth through to 2015. See below
Goals Soccer Centres plc

Grant of Options

The Company announces that on 13 March 2008 it granted options to subscribe for
250,000 new Ordinary Shares in the Company at a price of 294.5p per share to
each of the following directors:


Keith Rogers - Managing Director

William Gow - Finance Director

Morris Payton - Operations Director


The options will be exercised in five tranches. The tranches and the precise
performance criteria are as follows:

No. of
shares
Tranche Exercise periods EPS growth target

Tranche 1 50,000 1/1/11- 31/12/17 22.5% CAGR in 2008, 2009 and
2010 referenced to EPS in 2007
(11.2p)

Tranche 2 50,000 1/1/12- 31/12/18 20% CAGR in 2009, 2010 and 2011
referenced to EPS in 2008

Tranche 3 50,000 1/1/13- 31/12/19 15% CAGR in 2010, 2011 and 2012
referenced to EPS in 2009

Tranche 4 50,000 1/1/14- 31/12/20 12.5% CAGR in 2011, 2012 and
2013 referenced to EPS in 2010

Tranche 5 50,000 1/1/15- 31/12/21 10% CAGR in 2012, 2013 and 2014
referenced to EPS in 2011

I don't think I can recall a steeper set of eps growth percentages at another company-they must believe they can beat these over the term of the options so the outlook, in my opinion, is rosy.
I also note a director has sold a few shares last week but this looks like CGT planning to me.

[sclothier] 14/3/2008 15:30

Another institution onboard-can't be a bad thing.

Shazzy I do agree with what you are saying about them being at 2.94 as opposed to £4.00 and looking fair value, but don't forget the stock market is only a market and the shares are only worth what people will pay for them. If you or I think they are cheap then we buy lot's, and thats our decision, unfortunately it may not mean that we are right.

Either way I am still a believer and am still trying to work out at what stage is good to buy at.The way I see it, they are a good company with fantastic prospects and I was happy to buy them at £3.00 so why not wait and see how low they fall, should they bounce up to £3.00 then I haven't lost anything.

Good luck to all and lets share every bit of info we get.

[shazzybabes1] 14/3/2008 10:43

Lloyds now own 7% of shares. I bet there mopping all the sellers up and their customers will get the benefits of a company that have never failed when announcing results.

[shazzybabes1] 14/3/2008 10:41

Yeah they do get replaced I know the local goals i play had them changed recently but i just think that a company that turns over 22 mil and 7 mil profit cant have that many overheads. Just look at those directors who seem to have picked more shares up at 294. The share price was 4 pounds on no news and now things look rosier i think these will fly in due course. Seems to be bottomin out at 2-94.I think that goals must get the land for a reduced rate as the goverment are trying to promote leisure and physical education in schools.