Goals Soccer Centres (LON:GOAL), the group that operates a chain of 34 five-a-side football centres across the UK, has opened its first US centre in Los Angeles, California. The new facility includes 10 five-a-side pitches, one seven-a-side pitch and a state of the art club house. Soccer is second only to basketball in terms of participation in Los Angeles, a city of 18 million people, and remains the fastest growing sport in both the city of Los Angeles and California. There are currently no dedicated soccer facilities in California to cater for this growing demand.
Keith Rogers, Goals’ managing director, said: “This is very exciting development for Goals Soccer Centres. We are confident that the Goals concept will be very successful in California. Soccer in California is growing at an astounding rate. Our centre opening coincides with the 2010 FIFA World Cup and we expect to benefit from the subsequent euphoria.”
During the first quarter of 2010 Goals opened centres in Liverpool and at Eltham in London, while construction is understood to be well advanced in Portsmouth, at Gillette Corner in London and at Ipswich. The group is set to begin work on an additional three centres in the near future, all of which are schedule to open in the current financial year. In April, the company said it had sufficient funding in place to roll out at least six new centres in 2011.
In the year to December 2009 Goals reported growth in sales and profits for its ninth successive year, with revenues up by 10% to £26.2m and pre-tax profit up 7% to £8.8m. Shares in the company fell 1% to 160p in early trading.
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