The Gym Group accelerates rollout plans and announces share buyback
On announcing its second half results for 2025, The Gym Group has said it will accelerate the rollout to 75 gyms over the next three years, funded by cashflow.
Previous targets had been 50 new sites, so this is a confident jump for the high value, low cost operator. Last year The Gym Group launched 16 new sites, which was at the top end of projections, taking the total estate to 260 and 20 are planned for this year, with a strong pipeline beyond.
The revised ambitions have been driven by the impact of the Next Chapter strategy and sustained positive trading momentum. Revenue for the year ended 31 December 2025 increased by 8 per cent to £244.9 million (2024: £226.3m) and like-for-like revenue grew by 3 per cent.
“The industry is in a golden age, it's a very positive picture,” The Gym Group CEO, Will Orr, told HCM. “I feel very bullish about the long run. Although we’re not looking beyond the next three years, I think the white space will continue to open up as more people become engaged, gym penetration increases and towns and cities develop.
“We have confidence in the performance of our business, our proposition and the available white space. We've got a good pipeline and a good team in place to deliver it and believe that we can open that number of sites really well and do it from free cash flow, which has been a big part of our investor narrative over the last few years.”
Forty gyms now have the new enhanced format and by the end of the year it is expected that 100 sites will showcase the new aesthetic, which includes darker colours, a more industrial look, better zoning, more advanced strength kit and some sought-after kit, such as Booty Builder. Ongoing maintenance will continue across the whole estate.
Alongside the new sites and estate upgrades, a £10 million share buyback programme has been announced for this year.
“The share buyback is in line with our capital allocation policy and we’re able to do it while we do all of the other things we want to in terms of growth,” says Orr. “We want to continue to accelerate the rollout from free cashflow, keep the leverage low, maintain and upgrade the estate extremely well and having done all of that, we've got some surplus capacity. Therefore we think there's a good risk-free return for our investors in doing a share buyback, which we'll do on a sustained basis through the year.”
Membership is also increasing with the year closing at 923,000 members compared with 891,000 at 31 December 2024 and average revenue per member per month was also up by 4 per cent to £21.60 from £20.81. This uptick has been partly thanks to retention efforts.
“We have seen good results from engaging with members in the first 45 days to nudge behaviour change, this has increased participation in member induction and reduced the 45 day churn levels,” says Orr. “The overall message is that the average tenure of members is increasing to an average of around 18 months.”
Net debt as at 31 December 2025 was £59.3 million, compared with £61.3 million at 31 December 2024 and £5 million below analyst consensus expectations.
Audited full year results will be published on 11 March 2026.

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