Full Year Results
Ready to rebuild membership and return to growth

The Gym Group plc, the fast growing, nationwide operator of 186¹ low-cost, no-contract gyms, announces its full year results for the year ended 31 December 2020. The results reflect a year of significant disruption in which the Company’s gyms were required by the UK Government to close for 45% of the trading days in the year due to COVID-19.

2021 Update and Outlook

• Gyms in England are expected to re-open on 12 April 2021 with gyms in Scotland re-opening 26 April 2021
• Higher levels of membership retention during this current lockdown versus previous closure periods; as at 28 February 2021 our membership level was 547,000 (31 December 2020: 578,000)
• 97% of current members say they expect to return to the gym as soon as possible, with 75% stating that fitness will be more important to them than it was pre-COVID
• Focus on cash management to enable us to re-open in a position of financial strength; as at 28 February 2021, Non-Property Net Debt was £58.2 million versus total bank facilities of £100.0 million
• Three new sites opening in April and one in May, with an additional four starting on-site imminently. In addition, our growing pipeline has a further six leases exchanged with several more in advanced negotiations

2020 Financial highlights

• 45% of trading days lost due to closure plus reduced membership levels resulting in 47.4% reduction in revenue
• Strong cost control and Government support limited EBITDA less Normalised Rent loss to £10.2 million
• Low levels of debt and low-cost base enabled trading to be cash flow positive when gyms were open even with reduced membership levels
• No final dividend recommended 

2020 Strategic and Operational Progress

• 8 new gyms opened increasing the total estate to 183¹ at December 2020
• Total year end members at 578,000, a decrease of 27.2% versus prior year (2019: 794,000) due to prolonged periods of closure; average member numbers fell by 11.1% to 708,000 (2019: 796,000)
• LIVE IT penetration as at December 2020 was 22.5% of total members (2019: 18.9%)
• Strong retention of gym staff and high engagement levels resulting from the support provided to colleagues during lockdowns; our people-first approach included topping-up furlough pay, the introduction of a new communications platform and extensive wellbeing support
• £1.8 billion of Social Value² created by the Gym Group since 2016 with each gym generating £3 million of Social Value per year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic

Richard Darwin, CEO of The Gym Group, commented:

During 2020 we demonstrated the resilience of our business and its culture even in the most challenging of times. By freezing subscriptions when closed and by providing an excellent COVID-secure environment in our gyms when open, we have retained most of our members; by supporting colleagues with topped-up furlough pay, honest communications and a comprehensive wellbeing plan we have high levels of staff retention and engagement; and by managing cash carefully we will emerge from the crisis with manageable levels of debt. We are ready to start rebuilding our memberships levels and growing our estate from 12 April, extending affordable fitness at a time when health and fitness has never been more important.

A live audio webcast of the analyst presentation will be available at 08.30am today via the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_e7iM4PsOQVeGQZqE64GKKQ

Two additional statements from the Company have been released (available at www.tggplc.com) relating to:

• Changes to Non-Executive Director Roles and Responsibilities
• The Social Value created by The Gym Group since 2016

For further information, please contact:

The Gym Group
Richard Darwin, CEO
Mark George, CFO
via Instinctif Partners

Numis
Luke Bordewich
George Price
020 7260 1000

Peel Hunt
Dan Webster
George Sellar
020 7418 8900

Instinctif Partners
Matthew Smallwood
Justine Warren
020 7457 2020

^{1 183 as of 31 December 2020 (vs 175 at 31 December 2019) with eight new sites opened in 2020. 186 sites as at 18 March 2021
2 Social Value analysis completed by 4Global and Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre. Further details available in the Sustainability Report within the Company’s 2020 Annual Report & Accounts available at www.tggplc.com}

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