Accounting Errors Force Goals Soccer Centres to Issue Profit Warning

Goal Soccer Centres, which operates outdoor soccer centres in the UK and the US, has issued a profit warning after identifying “accounting errors” on its books for the year to the end of 2018.

The company’s share price dipped sharply on the news, with bosses revealing that full year results for the business will now be “materially below expectations” and will be announced later than planned.

Details about the accounting errors referenced by Goal Soccer Centres in its latest trading update have yet to be revealed but the company has said its board, along with a team of auditors, will work to resolve the associated issues and “review some accounting practices and policies”.

“It is likely that the board will take a more prudent approach both for 2018 full year results and going forward,” statements given by the company have said.

The situation with regard to its accounting issues has already led Goal Soccer Centres into trouble with its lenders, its trading update made clear.

“Whilst the majority of these accounting adjustments are of a non-cash nature, this does nevertheless mean that the company will have exceeded one of its banking covenants at 31 December 2018,” the company has said.

Hopes are that new deals can be struck between the company’s board and its lenders in due course.

“We are in discussions with the bank with a view to agreeing re-negotiated facilities,” it said.

There have been a series of changes at the top of Goal Soccer Centres and on its board over the past year, with new executive and non-executive directors appointed to posts during that time.

A new team of auditors have also been appointed by the company, which is based in East Kilbride in Scotland.

A trading update given by the company in January 2019 warned that profits for the full year 2018 would be lower than previously predicted in part as a result of the added costs associated with running children’s birthday parties and selling food and drinks at its 50 venues.

At the beginning of this year, Goal Soccer Centres predicted that its profits for last year would be worth between £4.3 million and £4.5 million but it is now unclear how much lower that figure will be as a result of the accounting errors that have been revealed.