Losses at American Golf as retailer eyes online growth

American Golf at Liverpool Golf Centre

Golf equipment retailer American Golf made a pre-tax loss of £9.8m in the last financial year to January 2023.

The Warrington-based company blamed a deferring of buying decisions by consumers, widespread discounting due to excess stock by competitors in sports retail, which meant the business was trading on reduced margins.

Top line sales also fell to £151.2m from £166.8m the previous year. 

The business also closed two stores which had reached the end of their leases, and opened a “flagship” store in Leeds.

The company has invested in its family golf and leisure sites and now operates six driving ranges and golf leisure facilities.

Owned by private equity investor Endless, the annual report also includes a more upbeat director’s statement claiming American Golf has achieved “like-for-like growth in six out of eight months in 2023 with an overall increase of 2.3%”. 

New facilities with Endless were agreed in December 2022 and are yet to be drawn down.

It also says: “American Golf’s market share has also improved and the company is on track to report a favourable EBITDA for the current financial year, reflecting the resilience and adaptability of the business in the face of market challenges.”

The company said a higher proportion of its new customers shopped online, which reported a 91% increase between 2019 and 2022 and that the “primary objective” is to transition these costumers to “omni channel shoppers”. 

However, the company has delayed infrastructure investment and described its IT systems as “ageing central IT infrastructure with increasing risk of hardware failure.”

 

 

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