INVESTORS sent the share price in Goals Soccer Centres surging by nearly 15 per cent after the company followed a £6.2 million loss in 2015 with a profit of £3.7m for 2016.
East Kilbride-based Goals returned to the black in a year which saw it restructure its board, with Mark Jones coming on board as chief executive, invest £5.1m in pitch modernisation and roll out its new Clubhouse 2020 concept in three sites. It completed work on its second US centre in Pomona, California, which opened last month, and is on track to begin building its third in the state, in Rancho Cucamonga, in the first half.
The company is not proposing to pay a dividend for 2016.
Mr Jones, who joined Goals from his post as managing director of Grosvenor Casinos, said: “In the last six months we have made good headway executing our plan: 136 pitches re-laid resulting in a much more attractive proposition for customers; development of the new Clubhouse format which will be trialled later this year; and progress on the food and beverage proposition.
He added: “We are delivering a better product which is already showing in the numbers and are confident that we can realise our ambitions.”
Goals, which raised £16.75m in a share placing last year, followed Mr Jones’ appointment by hiring former Inter Milan chief executive Michael Bolingbroke as a non-executive director. Scott Lloyd and Christopher Mills also joined as non-executive directors.
Shares in Goals closed up 14p, or 14.74 per cent, at 109p.
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