Basic-Fit topped four million members – a 13 per cent increase – and opened a record number of clubs in the first half year of 2024.

The swift rollout meant the low-cost fitness operator had completed 78 per cent of its 2024 launches by the end of June.

The estate now has 1,537 clubs and the company is on track to achieve its goal of reaching 1,575 clubs this year.

CEO, Rene Moos, said that for each new club, a return on invested capital (ROIC) of at least 30 per cent is expected at maturity.

This 30 per cent ROIC measure is fast becoming a goal for the sector, with Will Orr, CEO of The Gym Group, revealing plans for the company's future openings to also hit this target earlier this year, up from the 20 per cent ROIC being achieved.

Despite the large number of club openings for Basic-Fit, there was still an increase in the underlying EBITDA (less rent) of 26 per cent to €139 million and revenue increased by 17 per cent to €585 million compared to last year.

Moos said: “We're making good progress with the conversion of the 42 acquired McFIT clubs in Spain to the Basic-Fit brand [14 by the end of June] and expect to have nearly completed it by the start of the important sales season in September.”

Moos said the RSG Spain acquisition and the high number of club openings, along with their initial investments and losses, impacted profitability in the first half of the year but this will pay off in the second half: “This trend will reverse in the second half of the year, during which we will open a limited number of clubs, and the clubs opened in the first half of the year will start contributing to the bottom line.

“It is good to see the year-on-year improvement in profitability in the first half of the year and we look forward to an even stronger second half of the year, during which we expect to achieve all our targets for 2024 as communicated in April.”

For the rest of the year there are plans to continue the rollout, raise revenues from €1.20 billion to €1.25 billion and increase the average revenue per member per month to at least €24.50, from its current level of €23.80.

The Benelux countries and Spain all achieved sound membership growth trends. While France continues to be more challenging, which is being mitigated against by a new management structure, separating the responsibilities for club expansion and club operations. The country has been divided into separate regions, each with its own business director. Investment is ongoing in the clubs and different offerings are being piloted, including massage chairs and longer opening hours to drive revenues.

In the newest growth market of Germany, 12 clubs were launched, bringing the total to 24 clubs, including the first clubs in Berlin and Frankfurt. Moos says there is a gradual improvement in membership growth trends in Germany as the company builds brand equity.

The Smart Refurbishing initiative, which was announced last November, resulted in a €5 million lower depreciation of fitness equipment for the April to June 2024 period. Instead of fully replacing all the fitness equipment after six or eight years, the fitness equipment partner pays regular visits to the clubs to maintain and refurbish the equipment, extending the lifespan to 12 years.

During the first half of 2024, €2.5 million was invested in projects to make the clubs more sustainable, including changing gas-based water and heating systems to electric systems in 67 of the 300 clubs. Solar panels were installed on 26 clubs, with this work ongoing.