Soccer Goals warns financial black hole could be 'materially' bigger than first thought

Goals Soccer Centres has revealed that the black hole in its accounts could be “materially higher” than initially thought, as it quit London’s junior market.

The troubled company said it was continuing to work with its advisors regarding potential misdeclarations of VAT, which were first revealed this summer. In August, the Aim-listed firm revealed it believed it owed HMRC £12m, but on Monday said: “Due to the identification of improper behaviour on the part of a small number of individuals historically within the company, as announced on 2 August, the company has not been able to conclude its work to date on clarifying the potential liability associated with the misdeclaration.

“Further, the actual liability may be materially higher than that previously announced dependent on the approach and working assumptions that could be adopted by HMRC in assessing the misdeclaration.”

Goals Soccer added that because it did not know how the misdeclaration would impact its financial position, and so could not publish results, it expected its shares to be cancelled as of 30 September.

Last week, Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley made 5p per share bid for the troubled business, which Goals Soccer called “preliminary and highly caveated”. Its closing share price was 27.2p.