Sports club operator Basic-Fit saw its membership drop sharply, from 2.22 million in 2019 to around 2 million last year. Due to the lockdown measures, all branches were closed for at least a few weeks. The company was unable to avoid turning a loss in “the most difficult year in history,” as the company’s 2020 annual results released Tuesday (pdf).
The year 2020 started well for the fitness company. In the first months it opened a record number of branches and many new members were added. When the pandemic broke out in March, all more than nine hundred clubs were suddenly closed. During the closure, no one signed up for a subscription, but quite a few members left. That ultimately resulted in a 10 percent drop in membership last year.
Basic-Fit then immediately decided to cut costs by not building and opening new clubs. It was striking that when the branches were allowed to reopen, more people registered as new members than in the same period in 2019.
In the autumn, many clubs had to close again due to the second wave of contamination. They were only allowed to remain open in Spain. Turnover fell sharply due to the closures, by almost 27 percent to 377 million euros. Basic-Fit was therefore unable to remain in the black. Last year, the loss amounted to 125.2 million euros, where the previous year a profit of 11 million euros was entered in the books.
Basic-Fit currently has 905 branches. At the beginning of last year, there were 784. Of the more than 900 sports clubs, 851 were closed at the end of last year, including in the Netherlands and Belgium. That is why the company is cautious about its expectations for this year.
Nevertheless, Basic-Fit is hopeful about the future for the longer term. It sees plenty of growth opportunities once the pandemic is largely over. “More people will pay attention to their fitness and health and therefore join a health club,” the company writes in a note.
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