They came for the price. They stayed for the sport. Last year, the Dutch company Basic-Fit attracted 12% more customers, or 4.3m in total, to its 1,575 clubs in Europe. That’s 173 more clubs than a year earlier, including 10 in Luxembourg, thanks to a discounted membership deal for the new gyms. The fitness chain expects this growth to continue in 2025, while the first two months of the year have already seen an increase of 202,000 members compared with the end of December.

The company reported a 16% increase in sales to €1.2bn in 2024. After four consecutive years of losses, mainly due to the health crisis, Basic-Fit posted a net profit of €8m.

“Clubs opened in 2023 and 2024 performed well, with those in 2023 showing strong growth and those in 2024 outperforming those opened in 2018 and 2019, supported by successful founding member campaigns,” commented Basic-Fit CEO René Moos. “The clubs opened during the periods affected by Covid (2020, 2021 and 2022) continue to attract new members. Although their growth remains below initial expectations, their steady increase is a positive sign for our future performance. We got 2025 off to a good start with a strong influx of new members in January and February. At the end of February, we had 4.46m members, an increase of 202,000 in two months. This is a solid result, especially as we opened 19 fewer clubs over this period compared with the first two months of 2024.”

The company plans to open around 100 new centres a year in 2025 and 2026. In addition, a number of establishments will see their opening hours extended or become 24/7.

This article in French.