UPDATE 1-Snow bites into Goals Soccer's H1 profit
* H1 profit, sales reduced by 0.3 mln stg * Says trading in line with its view * Says confident of adding at least 6 new centres in '10 (Adds details)
July 3 (Reuters) - Goals Soccer Centres Plc (GOAL.L), which runs 5-a-side football pitches across Britain, said its first-half profit and sales were hit by severe snow in early February, but added it was trading line with its estimates.
The company said its profit and sales for the six months ended June 30 were reduced by about 300,000 pounds ($491,100) mainly due to the snow.
"Our new centres continued to experience a slower rate of initial growth than in previous years resulting in maturity in both sales and profitability taking a few months longer to achieve," Goals Soccer said in a statement.
The company said its core football product remained resilient, while bar spend was showing early signs of improvement following the decline in the second half of 2008.
The group, which currently operates 32 centres in Britain, said it remained confident of adding a minimum of six centres in 2010, two of which -- Eltham and Gillette Corner in London -- would begin construction in the third quarter.
Goal Soccers shares closed at 201.50 pence on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6109 Pound) (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
