LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Fitness centre operator The Gym Group reported a "strong" financial recovery in its first half on Thursday, with group adjusted EBITDA less normalised rent swinging to £17m from a loss of £8.1m year-on-year.
The London-listed firm said the same adjusted EBITDA measure for the last 12 months, meanwhile, stood at £30.8m as at 30 June.

Revenue surged 187% to £84.2m, while the company's adjusted losses before tax narrowed by 83% to £4.7m.

Basic and diluted adjusted losses per share were 0.8p, narrowing 94% from the 12.6p it recorded in the first half of last year.

Free cash flow was a positive figure of £6.9m for the six month period, swinging from an outflow of £4.4m a year ago.

Operationally, The Gym Group said member numbers were building well and in line with seasonal norms, with a total of 790,000 members as at 30 June, up 10% from December.

It said its yield strengthened in the period while it still remained "the lowest priced UK low-cost gym operator", with the average price of a standard 'Do It' membership in June rising to £20.89 from £19.27 at the end of 2021, and its premium 'Live It' penetration rising to 28.7% from 27.1% over the same period.

Looking ahead, the company said trading in July continued in line with its expectations, adding that September and October was its next key period of membership growth as students returned to in-person education and working patterns continued to normalise.

It said its site pipeline was building well, with at least 25 to 30 openings targeted for 2023 and 2024.

"We are pleased with our financial and operational performance during the first half of 2022, demonstrating the resilience of our business," said chief executive officer Richard Darwin.

"People across the country rely on our gyms for their physical and mental health, and demand for our affordable, high quality fitness experience is recovering well."

Darwin said that as the company expanded it was seeing more members across the UK, and was making further progress with its "ambitious" growth plan given 28 new openings were scheduled for 2022.

"The future is bright for The Gym Group - our new technology platform, combined with our brand relaunch later this month, positions us well to capture the demand for affordable fitness and take advantage of this once in a generation opportunity for growth."

At 1307 BST, shares in The Gym Group were down 1.45% at 176.4p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.

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