GOALS Soccer Centres had its ability to expand called into question yesterday by analysts as it assured investors it had sufficient cash and banking agreements to grow for five years.
East Kilbride-based Goals said cash generation and its five-year banking facility would be enough to fund six new site openings a year. But analysts at Altium Securities said, based on their forecasts, the headroom "looks inadequate" to fund expansio
n.
Goals, Britain's biggest five-a-side pitch operator by market capitalisation, said trading was "in line with expectations" in the six months to the end of June. It dismissed any impact from a consumer slowdown yesterday, saying it was confident of "excellent" results for the year.
It said: "We have not seen any indication of softening demand for our 'next generation' offering, and we believe that our low admission price and the high loyalty associated with team sports indicates our business is resilient to any wider consumer spending downturn."
Goals opened three sites in the first half of the year with three due to open in the second half. The board is confident of opening another six sites in 2009, its annual target.
Wayne Brown at Altium Securities had a critical take on an update he said contained "no new information".
In a note he pointed out that the three sites opened in the first half of the year came from the acquisition of Pro5 in February and "the current year's development programme would most likely have been beyond reach if this was not done".
Brown predicted that, based on net debt forecasts, "the facility will need to be extended," if the company was to open six sites a year. Shares in Goals dipped 1.5p to 247.5p.
The full article contains 296 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
