Health club operator Basic-fit has seen revenue and profits increase by more than a quarter, following a rapid expansion of its fitness estate.

Reporting its full-year results to December 2017, the Dutch company recorded revenues of €326m (US$404m, £290m) – an increase of 26 per cent on 2016 – and pre-tax profits of €100.5m (US$124m, £89m), up 25 per cent on the year before.

The increases were largely due to an ambitious development pipeline, which delivered 102 new club openings, growing Basic-fit’s portfolio to 521 clubs.

According to CEO Rene Moos, the group is set to continue growing throughout 2018.

“We had a very successful 2017 and passing the 500-club mark was a historical moment for us, confirming our position as the fastest growing fitness chain in Europe,” he said.

“We are delivering on our accelerated club rollout plan and at the same time manage to retain our strong margins.

“The club openings pipeline continues to grow and be well-filled. Particularly thanks to France, where we believe we have the opportunity to open at least 600 clubs.

“At the end of the year we had 31 clubs under construction and we are confident to open around 100 clubs in 2018.

“In 2017, we continued to invest in innovations to make fitness available to everyone, everywhere and in every way possible. It is our mission to make fitness accessible to all people across Europe.

“The launch of our new virtual group classes platform, GXR, is making it even easier for people to exercise and have fun both inside and outside our clubs and it helps us in our aim to reach as many as five million people with our fitness offering by 2025.”

Of the 521 Basic-fit clubs currently open, 162 are located in Belgium, 160 in France, 152 in the Netherlands and 33 in Spain. There are also nine clubs in Luxembourg.