No pain no gain for Pure Gym as it plans further expansion

“No operator in the history of the gym and fitness sector in the UK has ever achieved this scale of membership,” said chief executive of Pure Gym Humphrey Cobbold, as the Leeds-based company announced its 2016 results.

Membership rose by 152,000 to 822,000 over the year, it said.

Revenues for the year to December 2016 grew 28% to £159.9m, whilst EBITDA grew 41% to £39.5m.

Pure Gym has felt the burn as it gears up for further growth, integrating the LA Fitness brand into the group.

38 Pure Gym branded gyms opened during the period, including 18 LA Fitness conversions. This brought its end of year total to 170, which increased by another four as of February.

Humphrey Cobbold, chief executive, said: “Almost a million people currently enjoy our affordable and flexible offer and we’ve introduced a variety of different membership options to suit a wide range of personal circumstances.

“No operator in the history of the gym and fitness sector in the UK has ever achieved this scale of membership and we are passionately pursuing our vision of making great fitness opportunities and facilities available for everybody in the country.

“For 2017, expansion remains our priority with four new gyms open already and plans for 20 to 25 openings this year in total. Despite our size, we retain a ‘challenger brand’ entrepreneurial spirit with a relentless focus on ensuring our offer appeals to 21st century consumers who want quality and value for money, the flexibility of a no contract offer and facilities they actually use.

“Pure Gym’s impressive expansion continues and the scope for further growth is considerable. Half of our sites are under two years old and so they offer significant further growth potential. We therefore expect 2017 to be another year of healthy progression for all the key performance indicators – volume, yield, revenue, profits and cashflow.

“Looking further ahead we are excited about the potential of the business in a market where Pure Gym benefits from being the clear leader and in which value gyms still represent under 10% of the number of facilities in the UK and Pure Gym’s share of facilities is still only in the low single digits.”