Companies: PWR   

With almost 300 pitches across the UK, five-a-side football pitch operator Powerleague (PWL) pulls in around 80,000 players each week (all paying £5 each on average). Current demand for five-a-side facilities is such that 150 teams signed up to play at the new site in Watford before it had even been built, and PWL plans to grow pitch numbers 23% in the current year.

The company develops sites in major conurbations as well as more provincial locations and has developed a ‘modular-build’ construction approach, reducing construction times and costs. With 2006 a World Cup year, the popularity of the sport is likely to grow.

On the corporate front, PWL managed 14 national events for the likes of Sainsbury, Barclays and Honda. Management insist the group is a magnet for major sponsors, as evinced by the extension of its partnership with Microsoft’s Xbox earlier this year, and the unveiling of a national sponsorship deal with sports and leisurewear leviathan Nike, which will supply the balls used at its centres.

Joining AIM in May at 44p, the company recently fired home strong maiden full year figures to 2 July, showing adjusted pre-tax profits up from £300,000 to £2.2m on a 14% rise in sales to £17.5m. Like-for-like sales progressed 6% in the year and the company generated £5.25m of cash, up from £4.1m. Net debt was reduced to £16.7m

For the current year, house broker Evolution suggests pre-tax profits of £4.1m and earnings of 3.7p per share, placing the shares on a forward p/e of 16.8, slightly below the sector average of 17.5. For, comparison, AIM rival Goals Soccer Centres, with 17 sites to PWL's 30, trades on a forward p/e of 30.7.