Scottish five-a-side football firm Goals Soccer Centres is on the hunt for a new boss after chief executive Keith Rogers transferred to a new role heading up the company’s US business.
Chairman Keith Endelman has also stepped down, replaced by recently recruited boardroom recruit Nick Basing, amid a top level shakeout in the wake of a difficult year for Goals.
Posting results yesterday, the East Kilbride-based firm said it plunged to pre-tax losses of £6.2million last year. This was after profits of £6.8million in 2015..
The business was hit “significantly” by a growing number of schools and local authorities building full-size artificial football pitches and offering cheaper prices.
Goals said like-for-like sale slumped by 11.5%, with total sales down by 4.9% at £33million.
Mr Rogers, who is taking up the post of president of Goals US, said: “We are not blind to the challenges we face in a fast-evolving market.
“The development of full-size artificial pitches on school and local authority sites has fuelled increasing competition to our league offering.
“Players now have more choice on where to play their game. This has impacted our business significantly recently.”
The company said new sites opened in Manchester and Doncaster last year but had underperformed.
It has now halted plans to open any new sites in the UK, where it currently operates 46 five-a-side venues, including one in Aberdeen, in the immediate future.
The company enjoyed a brighter performance in the US, with like-for-like sales edging up 8.4% at its facility in Los Angeles.
Goals, which employs about 800 people, said it had moved to attract wayward amateur football players by ramping up its health and fitness marketing campaign Get Fit – Mind, Body and Goals, which has led to an increase in inquiries.
On its hunt for a new boss, Goals said: “The search for a new chief executive and two non-executive directors is well-advanced, with high quality candidates being considered.”