Basic-Fit has released its results for 2022 which show strong club and membership growth, a doubling of revenue and substantial increases in profitability from a loss of €95.2m in 2021 to a profit of €11.3m in 2022 – a swing of €106.6m.

Last year Basic-Fit expanded its network by 185 clubs – through 191 openings and six closures – and grew to 1,200 clubs. Overall, 119 opened in France, 34 in Spain, 15 in the Netherlands, 14 in Belgium and three in Germany. This was the first time Basic-Fit launched clubs in Germany, marking a new territory for the fitness chain.

In terms of revenue, 2022 brought in €795m (£703), compared with €341m (£301m) in 2021, with an underlying EBITDA of €203.8m (€31.6m in 2021). Memberships rose across the network by around 1.1m to 3.35m during 2022. The company reports it has €143m available liquidity.

“2022 was a very good year given the 51 per cent growth of our membership base and our return to profitability,” said René Moos, CEO of Basic-Fit. “After two years of lockdowns and government measures, we were able to get the average number of memberships in our mature clubs back to pre-COVID-19 levels while also increasing the average revenue per member per month by 11 per cent compared with the pre-pandemic level in 2019.”

In a bid to boost the number of consumers taking out Premium memberships, the company adjusted the marketing for these higher-priced memberships and the "perceived value gap” between Basic (€24.99 every four weeks) and Premium tiers (€29.99 every four weeks). According to Moos, by the end of 2022, Premium memberships accounted for 34 per cent of total memberships compared with 23 per cent at the start of the year.

The Basic membership has also been changed to Comfort, in France (from December 2022) and Benelux countries (from February 2023). It provides members with access to all clubs in a country while the Basic membership offers access to a single club – this Comfort tier is offered to new members only. The company is expecting to see further membership increases of between 40 per cent and 45 per cent by the end of 2023.

“To cope with rising costs in 2022 and 2023, we made several changes in the value proposition and memberships structure for joiners in order to increase the average yield per member,” said Moos. “An important element in this is our push to increase the overall percentage of Premium memberships. In 2022, the Premium penetration rate rose to 34 per cent at the end of December from 23 per cent at the start of the year.

“Following the recent introduction of the €24.99 Comfort membership for new members – replacing the Basic membership – in France and the Benelux countries, we see a continuation of the strong joiner trend and a consistent Premium take-up rate of over 50 per cent. We therefore expect a continuous gradual increase of the average revenue per member in 2023.”

Moos says that looking forward to 2023, Basic-Fit is on track to open at least 200 clubs in 2023.

“In the year-to-date, we opened an additional 64 clubs and are well on track to open at least 200 clubs in 2023, which is in line with our longer-term target to open between 200 and 300 clubs a year,” he said. “We will remain flexible in the execution of our rollout plans and will continue to monitor macro-economic and membership developments, so we can adjust the pace of club openings when necessary.”

For the full results, go to the Basic-Fit website here.