The International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) has released the results of its Third Quarter Index.

The survey of 17 leading US health and sports club companies – representing 200 facilities – shows a slight improvement in financial performance compared to the same period last year.

For the quarter ending 30 September, companies saw a sales increase of 1 per cent, a 3.8 per cent increase in membership dues and a 1.5 per cent increase in actual memberships.

However, EBITDA dropped 3.9 per cent from US$1.43m (£1m) to US$1.38m (£974,000).

Katie Rollauer, IHRSA’s senior manager of research, said: “It is a concern that expenses appear to be creeping up for clubs within this sample while the country is in the midst of a recession. It is most likely that improved performance for some companies has been due to new club openings and entrance into new consumer markets, while mature sites have experienced more moderate growth, potentially attributable to increasing dues prices, compared to third quarter 2007.

“It is encouraging to see that clubs are successfully selling non-dues related items such as personal training, apparel, tennis lessons and so on, even when consumers are tightening their discretionary spending.” Details: www.ihrsa.org