The Gym Group plc, the fast growing, nationwide operator of 160¹ low cost, no contract, 24/7 gyms, announces its full year results for the year ended 31 December 2018.

Financial highlights

• Revenue of £123.9 million, an increase of 35.6% (2017: £91.4 million)
• Group Adjusted EBITDA² of £36.8 million, an increase of 31.6% (2017: £28.0 million)
• Basic adjusted earnings per share³ increased to 8.4p (2017: 7.4p)
• Adjusted profit before tax⁴ increased by 19.4% to £14.4 million (2017: £12.0 million)
• Statutory profit before tax of £10.0 million (2017: £9.2 million)
• Proposed final dividend of 0.95p per share, giving a proposed full year dividend of 1.30p per share (2017: 1.20p per share)

Strategic and operational progress

• 17 new gyms opened and 13 acquired from easyGym, increasing the total estate to 158 at December 2018
• Total year end members at 724,000, an increase of 19.3% versus prior year (2017: 607,000); average member numbers grew by 31.3% to 693,000 (2017: 528,000)
• LIVE IT take-up grows to 85,000 representing 11.7% of members at 31 December 2018
• Increase in the average revenue per member per month to £14.89 (2017: £14.41)
• Return on capital on mature estate above 30% target at 31% (2017: 32%)
• The new Personal Trainer model rollout across the estate to be completed by Autumn 2019

Outlook

• The new financial year has started well and current trading is in line with the Board’s expectations with 793,000 members at the end of February, an increase of 9.5% since the year end
• Expect to achieve guidance range of 15 to 20 site openings for 2019
• The low cost gym market is expected to double in size in the next seven years, from its current number of sites to between 1,200 and 1,400 gyms (PwC)
• Intend to open first small box format gym in 2019 and commence a rollout thereafter

Richard Darwin, CEO of The Gym Group, commented:

During 2018 we accelerated our growth to reach 158 gyms, delivering rapid increases in revenue and profits as well as important projects to support a business of scale in the longer term. Our purpose is to provide affordable access to everyone who wants to improve their wellbeing and we see every day the positive impact we achieve as The Gym continues to make health and fitness available and affordable to all. Independent research confirms the low cost gym market can at least double its number of sites supporting our ambition for further organic growth alongside the maturing of our current estate. January and February are peak months for new memberships. We have had a successful start to the year and our brand now serves over 800,000 members with 10 million visits already so far this year. We plan on opening 15-20 gyms in 2019 as we extend access to affordable fitness nationwide.

An audio webcast of the analyst presentation will be available live on http://view-w.tv/795-1295-21250/en at 09:30.

A copy of the Annual Report and Accounts is available via our website www.tggplc.com

For further information please contact:

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

Numis
Luke Bordewich
George Price
020 7260 1000

Peel Hunt
Dan Webster
George Sellar
020 7418 8900

Instinctif Partners
Matthew Smallwood
Justine Warren
0207 457 2020

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Notes

_{1 158 sites branded The Gym and two sites currently branded easyGym. All gyms branded The Gym open 24/7 excluding six gyms as at 19 March 2019 due to licensing restrictions.
2 Group Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as operating profit before depreciation, amortisation, long term employee incentive costs and exceptional items.
3 Basic adjusted earnings per share is calculated as the Group's profit for the year before amortisation, exceptional items, and the related tax effect,
divided by the basic weighted average number of shares.
4 Adjusted profit before tax is calculated as profit before tax before amortisation and exceptional items.}