Littner drives Powerleague on
Article Date: Sep 16 2005
Powerleague is leading the way with floodlit 5-a-side football centres in the UK, has plenty of growth to gun for in a thriving market, and even has one eye on a European push
'First and foremost, we've still got a lot of growth to go for in the UK, but with our brand, I believe there's a huge franchising opportunity in Europe, where there is no 5-a-side of any substance,’ says Claude Littner, executive chairman of Powerleague and former CEO of Tottenham Hotspur. 'We have done some preliminary research in Holland and Germany, and I'd love to go into partnership out there.’
Company doctor and Blacks Leisure non-executive Littner, along with chief executive Sean Tracey, floated the group on AIM with a £12.9 million funding in May. In the early 90s, Littner was chairman and chief executive of Amstrad International and Amstrad Spain. An Alan Sugar confidante, he recently appeared in The Apprentice. He joined Powerleague at the request of owner 3i in 2001, setting about restructuring the business and sharpening its focus on 5-a-side, and went on to lead a management buyout in the summer of 2003.
Today, there are 30 Powerleague centres up and running, and new sites (at Basingstoke and Kilmarnock) will open by the end of September. Littner believes there's scope for up to 100 more UK sites.
This burgeoning profile means sponsorship and corporate opportunities are huge. Powerleague, which runs a raft of corporate events for the likes of Nike and Honda, has an eye-catching long-term corporate sponsorship relationship with Microsoft's Xbox brand. Growth in recent years has been stellar stuff – pre-tax profits of £2.6 million were scored in the year to June 2004, up from just over £1 million in 2003, on improved sales of £15.3 million (£14 million). Littner expects further growth through a focus on high-margin pitch income and rigorous control of costs.
