Ashley loses big as Goals shares plunge by a third

Mike Ashley has certainly caused a stir with his attempted coup at Debenhams.

But the tycoon was a major loser last night after shares in Goals

Soccer Centres plunged by almost a third.

The Sports Direct billionaire, who has an 18.9pc stake in Goals and is its biggest shareholder, saw £2.6m wiped off his investment in the five-a-side football firm.

Goals’ share price was hit as it warned profits will be ‘materially below’ expectations after unearthing accounting errors. it is being forced to renegotiate the terms of its loans after breaching the conditions of its banking agreement.

Goals, founded in 1987 by keith Rogers, is working with its auditors kPMG to review its accounting practices and policies.

Rogers, 58, was also a material loser from the share price drop as the value of his 5.2pc stake fell by more than £700,000.

The company operates 50 outdoor football centres across the Uk and California. Shares closed down 32.1pc, or 18p, to 38p last night. Both the FTSE 100 and

FTSE 250 ended the day down 0.7pc – the former by 53.24 points, at 7,104.31, the latter 136.15 points at 19,047.67.

Outsourcer Serco won a £153.1m contract to provide support to field workers for a US government pension agency. As part of the contract, it will help field officers of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) manage documents and records, build databases and administer benefits.

PBGC protects the retirement incomes of nearly 37m Americans in private sector defined benefit pension plans and is responsible for the benefits of about 1.5m in failed pension schemes. Serco’s boss Rupert Soames said the contract strengthens Serco’s ‘citizen services capabilities in the US and internationally’. Shares, however, fell 1.5pc, or 2p, to 133.6p.

Glaxosmithkline edged up 0.2pc, or 3p, to 1512.4p after the drug maker reported positive results from clinical trials that could see HiV patients take monthly treatments instead of daily dosages.

Two clinical trials revealed that a once-a-month, two-drug treatment was just as effective as a daily, three-drug regimen.

if approved, the monthly treatment could alleviate the burden on HiV patients. The studies were carried out on drugs developed by GSk’s subsidiary ViiV Healthcare and Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, part of pharmaceutical group Johnson & Johnson.

Only this week it was recently revealed that a third person may have been cured of HiV.

Shares in retirement firm Saga dropped 8.8pc, or 10.8p, to 112p after a gloomy note from JP Morgan. Saga is a big player in the insurance industry, where the analysts said tough competition is holding down profits.

They added the firm has taken on a lot of debt to buy cruise ships and could be forced to cut its dividend if conditions get any tougher.

High-interest lender Amigo was another major loser as traders continued to ponder the impact of a crackdown on its industry by the Financial Conduct Authority watchdog. Amigo targets people with a poor credit history with guarantor loans, where a friend or neighbour agrees to pay up if the borrower cannot afford it.

The FCA is concerned that guarantors are increasingly being called on to step in.

Shares in Amigo – which insists it has robust standards – fell 3.7pc, or 8p, to 209p.

Building supplies firm SIG made a profit of £28.5m in 2018 compared with a loss of £54.7m the year earlier after reining in costs and reducing its headcount.

investors brushed off a decline in revenues from £2.9bn to £2.7bn, sending shares up 8.4pc, or 10.3p, to 132.5p.