PlayFootball Company Background

Company Background
The Sports & Leisure Group is a developer and operator of multi sports and leisure facilities with a particular focus on health and fitness and small sided football centres. The group currently owns and operates four premium health and fitness clubs under the brand name Roko Health Clubs, at Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Nottingham and Gillingham. It also operates 5 small sided football centres, under the PlayFootball brand at Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Preston, Blackpool and Luton.

The group has had a combined capital investment of over £30 million developed on a combined land size in excess of 40 acres. The health clubs themselves average 35,000 square feet and enjoy excellent parking facilities. Much of the additional land is utilized for multi sports operations including multi court floodlit tennis, 11-a-side grass football, bowls and cricket.

The health clubs have a combined full paying membership in excess of 15,000 reflecting the success of its superior consumer value proposition. Roko Health Clubs provide premium, family friendly, health and fitness facilities. Affordable, mid market, membership rates.

The PlayFootball centres have a combined weekly league team participation of 700 and over 10,000 players visiting the centres per week. The group is among the UK’s fastest growing small sided operators and has several new site developments in its pipeline.

Point of Difference
The development of the two brands offers SLG wider growth opportunities and positively differentiates the group from other leisure operators with fixed product offerings. Wherever possible, given the unique nature of its land portfolio, the group has developed the Roko Health Club and PlayFootball brands on the same site to benefit from operational and capital efficiencies.

Shareholders
The Sports & Leisure Group has two equal joint venture shareholders, The Civil Service Sports Council, through its subsiduary CSSC Properties Ltd and Penta Capital, a private equity firm which specialise in leisure development. The group has banking facilities with Allied Irish Bank.

The CSSC is a friendly society with more than 145,000 members which owns high acreage, sport and leisure grounds, predominantly freehold, at more than 40 locations throughout the UK. www.cssc.co.uk

Penta Capitalis a private equity investor with a sector focus on leisure and experience of roll outs. Penta invested initially in late 2002, and then increased its stake to 50% in early 2005, committing further funds to support an acceleration of the management’s growth plans.
www.Pentacapital.com

Management Team
Chief Executive Officer: Barry Hunter.

Barry is a business graduate from Aston University. Following Brand Management roles with British Airways and HJ Heinz, Barry spent 9 years with International sports brand Adidas and latterly became Managing Director for Adidas Benelux and Adidas UK and Ireland.

Chief Financial Officer: Nigel Maglione.

Nigel is a qualified A.C.M.A (1982) and a graduate in Business Law. He joined Whitbread as a graduate trainee in 1979 and held a number of Financial Management positions within the group, including Financial Controller (Whitbread Hotels Division), Finance & Commercial Director (Whitbread Pizza Hut - Europe) and Systems Director (Whitbread Inns).

Barry and Nigel both joined the Sports & Leisure Group in January 2003