The Gym Group adds four new sites and is looking to go further
The Gym Group (LON:GYM) confirmed on Monday that its business has surpassed its expectations as people rushed back to its gyms as lockdown restrictions eased.
The company revealed that all of its 187 locations have now reopened, although social distancing measures remain, as well as a limit on guests.
Since the reopening The Gym Group’s total membership numbers rose from 547,000 at the end of February to 729,000 on May 24.
It remains some way of the 794,000 members recorded in December 2019, prior to the outbreak of Covid-19.
The fitness company has even opened four new sites across the UK, including Sydenham, Chichester, York and Cambridge.
The Gym Group expects its rate of new memberships to slow during the summer as that is generally a less busy period for the industry.
Net debt stood at £63.1m at the end of April, while the firm has a total bank facility of £100m. The company has said that it has entered talks of increasing its financial flexibility as it looks to expand by getting new sites.
The Gym Group share price is up by 2.51% to 265.50p in the morning session on Wednesday.
Richard Darwin, chief executive of The Gym Group, commented:
“Our members are delighted to be working out in the gym once more with visits per member and new joiner sign-up rates at record levels. With membership levels growing strongly, we are building our pipeline of new gyms to take advantage of what we see as a unique opportunity to extend affordable fitness to even more locations across the UK.”