Scottish five-a-side football venue operator Goals Soccer Centres said yesterday it was on the brink of naming its new chief executive.
The company has been on the hunt for a new boss since announcing in March that Keith Rogers, who led a management buy-in of a small Glasgow outfit to create Goals in 2000, was switching to a new role heading up its US business.
At the East Kilbride company’s annual general meeting yesterday, chairman Nick Basing said: “We have concluded the search for a high quality CEO. Our expectation is that we will be able to announce details imminently.”
He also announced the appointment of two new non-executive directors, David Lloyd Leisure Group deputy chairman Scott Lloyd and finance sector heavyweight Christopher Mills.
Mr Basing told shareholders a wide-ranging review of the business, which suffered a sharp slide in sales and pre-tax losses of £6.2million last year, would be completed next week.
“Our near-term operational improvement plan is being implemented which is solely focused on overall performance of the company and we are encouraged by the early signs,” he added.
“On current trading, I can report that like for like sales are marginally negative for the first 18 weeks of the year, however, the significant decline in last year’s second half has been eroded.
“This first quarter of trading in 2016 compares against positive sales growth in the same period last year.”
Goals has halted plans to open any new sites in the UK, where it operates 46 five-a-side venues, including one in Aberdeen, in the immediate future.