The Gym Group plans further expansion as revenues hit £150m mark

The Gym Group is set to continue its fast pace of growth in 2020, with plans to open – on average – around two new sites per month during the year.

Announcing its pre-close statement, the company said it is on track to open between 15 and 20 standard gyms and up to eight small box sites during the year.

The announcement follows a strong 2019 for the group, a year in which it saw revenues jump by nearly a quarter (23.6 per cent), hitting the £150m for the first time (£153.1m).

During the year, it opened 20 new sites – including two small-box sites – taking the total number of gyms in its portfolio to 175.

In a statement, the group also said it had made "good progress" with its Live it premium pricing product. A total of 150,000 members were subscribed to Live It during 2019, translating to 18.9 per cent of its total membership – a significant increase from the 11.7 per cent seen in 2018.

The introduction of Live It has helped the group increase the average revenue per member per month (ARPMM) to £16.02 – up 7.6 per cent from the 2018 average of £14.89.

During 2019, the company also rolled out its new personal trainer model New Gym Team. As a result, there are now 1,500 PTs working in the business on a part-time employed basis.

“2019 has been another very successful year in which The Gym Group has again delivered substantial growth in members and revenue," said Richard Darwin, CEO.

"Our strong proposition, as the UK’s lowest-price, high-quality gym operator, continues to grow the market and bring affordable fitness to more people across the UK.

"We expanded our business by 20 sites in 2019, which included the first two of our new small box gym concept, which delivers low-cost fitness to smaller towns.

"There remains a long runway of potential sites in the UK and with our small box rollout underway we plan to accelerate the expansion of our gym estate in the coming year.

"We have built scale and a strong platform over the past few years and with an encouraging start to January trading, we anticipate 2020 will be another year of significant progress.”