Five-a-side firm weighs up drive into foreign fields

Deputy Business Editor

Thursday 27 September 2012

FIVE-A-SIDE football firm Powerleague is eyeing up expansion into continental Europe and the United States, backed by the deep pockets of its private equity owner Patron Capital.

RESULT: Sean Tracey is pleased with the firm's performance despite tough conditions. Picture: Stewart Attwood

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GREIG CAMERON DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR

The business, which was taken off the AIM stock market by Patron in 2009 in a £42.5 million deal, has a site in Dublin but no other presence outside the UK.

Chief executive Sean Tracey told The Herald Powerleague still plans to add to its 44 centres in its home market but it had numerous options abroad.

He said: "We have further opportunities in Ireland and going into Europe is definitely on the agenda for Powerleague."We have pipeline sites in Spain and France and have also started to look strongly at the US. We have done substantial research and committed resource to that."We have a pipeline in the UK of more than 30 sites at various stages of the planning process and expect to open at least three in the next nine to 12 months."Fortunately we are backed by Patron Capital so there are substantial funds in place. While there is still room for growth in the UK, we see much, much more room in terms of expanding the business abroad."In annual accounts filed at Companies House, turnover for Powerleague Group for 2011 was £29.1 million. The figure of £42.5m covered an 18-month period to January 1, 2011.Pre-tax profit before exceptional items was £1.1m, compared to £2.3m in the longer trading period, although write downs on assets meant an overall pre-tax loss of £4.5m.In the accounts, Powerleague said an extra holiday for the Royal Wedding, the London riots, generally poor economic conditions and bad weather had affected performance. Since the year end sites at Barnsley and Catford have been sold.Mr Tracey said: "We were badly impacted by the weather as the snow was pretty horrendous. We have taken a prudent view on the assets we have got and disposed of some of the sites we inherited from the Pitz business going way back to before 2000 which weren't core."New sites at Leeds, Canary Wharf and Wembley in London also incurred start-up costs.Mr Tracey added: "All these sites are making excellent contributions this year. We are seeing good demand for people playing. It is not completely recession proof. Sponsorship, corporate events and children's parties are difficult when there is less disposable income. "Like any consumer facing business we have our challenges but I think the business has traded well during a difficult economic period."The accounts show £7.2m of debt was paid down in May this year. At the end of 2011 the net debt figure was £21.8m.The average number of staff employed across 2011 was 638 with employee costs at £7.2m.Directors' emoluments and pension contributions were at £500,000 with the highest paid receiving £202,000.A recent win for rival operator Goals against HMRC over VAT payments on league bookings was described by Mr Tracey as good for the industry.

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Five-a-side firm weighs up drive into foreign fields

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