The Gym Group puts expansion plans on ice

The Gym Group on Thursday put expansion plans on ice, as it looks to focus on coping with more cancellations as members avoid non-essential travel on the government’s coronavirus advice.

The firm, which has 179 branches, has already opened, or is on site to open, eight more so far in 2020. Up to 16 more were being mooted for the remainder of the year, but owing to disruption from coronavirus, it is “slamming the brakes on that”, said chief executive Richard Darwin.

The budget fitness chain said that over the last two weeks as the virus outbreak intensified, gym usage has started to decrease, new joiner numbers are lower than expected, and membership freezes are on the up.

Darwin said a number of sites are in zones one and two, where many gym fans are no longer travelling owing to the Prime Minister this week urging people to work from home.

However, he pointed out that prior to that, trading in the first two months of the year was in line with expectations.

His comments came as The Gym Group reported a 23.6% revenue jump to £153.1 million for 2019, boosted by a string of new openings. Pre-tax profits decreased to £6.2 million from £7 million after one-off costs.