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Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has pounced on Goals Soccer Centres with an offer to buy out the struggling five-a-side football pitch operator for almost £4m.
Sports Direct, which is the largest shareholder in Goals with a stake of just under 19%, said it had made an offer for the company worth 5p a share on 5 September, ahead of its expected delisting from the stock market next week. Goals put itself up for sale in late August following a £12m tax accounting scandal.
The offer from Sports Direct values the company at £3.8m, a fraction of its £20.5m market value when its shares were suspended in March from London’s junior Aim market, after it uncovered a potential £12m unpaid tax bill. Goals employs 700 people across 45 sites in the UK and four in the US.
Goals said it was discussing the proposal with Sports Direct and stressed that “it remains committed to looking after the interests of all stakeholders”.
Sports Direct has been at loggerheads with the firm’s management and unsuccessfully tried to oust the entire board at its annual meeting in June.
Shares in Goals are expected to be cancelled at the end of this month because the company has said it will be unable to file its accounts by that date, due to an ongoing probe into the mis-statement of historic financial statements. It commissioned accountancy and business advisory firm BDO to carry out a detailed investigation after it found “substantial” VAT errors totalling £12m.
The company said in August the investigation had uncovered “improper behaviour” by a number of individuals since at least 2010. The company subsequently said that actions taken by its former chief executive, Keith Rogers, and former chief financial officer, Bill Gow, were part of the investigation.
Sports Direct warned on Monday that if the delisting goes ahead, Goals shareholders will be unable to influence the sale process.
Sports Direct, which first invested in Goals in 2015, said: “Sports Direct believes that due to Goals’ well-publicised difficulties the board of Goals is not committed to maintaining Goals’ trading facility.
“Instead, it seems only interested in pursuing the [sale] process whilst, at the same time through the loss of the trading facility, depriving Goals’ shareholders of the ability to vote on it. Sports Direct is strongly of the view that the Goals shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider the possible offer.
“The possible offer would, if progressed, provide shareholders with an exit and allow them to determine what is fair value and in their best interests.”
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