Christie and Co has forecast that 2003 will be a year of greater concentration within the health and fitness sector, with the strongest brands cementing their positions. However, the dramatic growth in the number of clubs reaching maturity will mean those clubs may find it harder to increase membership and income.

These predictions have been made in Christie and Co's Business Review 2003 and Outlook 2003 report in which the company acknowledges that some operators have suffered due to the excessive pace of expansion and some through saturation, despite the fact there is still plenty of opportunity for growth in the UK.

The report predicts that 2003 will see operators increasingly moving to rationalise their portfolios by selling off units and anticipates further receiverships at the lower end of the market, mirroring those of Hunters and HiLife last year.

Property services company FPDSavills agrees that rationalisation with mergers and acquisitions are set to continue, and believes the current trend towards privatisation will not be permanent.

In contrast, Christie predicts that 2003 will see the pace of acquisitions and mergers in the pub industry slow down, particularly in the light of the poor trading results and continuing bad news from high street operators - which struck even industry giant JD Wetherspoon.

2002 saw many pubs changing hands in sale and sale and leaseback deals, the most recent being the announcement that Laurel Pub Company had sold 280 of its 623 pubs to London & Regional Properties for £318m and leased them back on a 60-year term.