Goals Soccer Centres’ share price falls as five-a-side football sales drop
Shares in the Aim-listed Goals Soccer Centres fell more than five per cent to 205p in the late morning as cold weather put prospective players off its five-a-side soccer centres in the first half of the year.
Read more: Five-a-side football firm Goals Soccer Centres chases US expansion
Climbing sales have slipped in the six months to 30 June, the company announced in a trading update this morning, as like-for-like sales came in one per cent down following a three per cent jump to £34.7m last year.
Sales at its 46 UK sites fell by two per cent in the year – a drop the company put down to adverse weather conditions.
However, the group is encouraged by its successful US expansion where rising interest in soccer pushed sales up 20 per cent at its Los Angeles centre.
The US Women's national team's World Cup final win was watched by 25.4m across America last weekend – a new record that underlines the sport's swelling popularity across the pond.
US youth participation in soccer rose 300 per cent in the 30 years to 2014, encouraging Goals Soccer Centres to secure terms and legals on a further three sites.
Managing director Keith Rogers commented: "we are very encouraged by the ongoing strength in US trading which supports our development programme in the Los Angeles area".