Press Office
Esporta Half Year Results
Date: 14 July, 2005
ESPORTA REPORTS GROWTH WITH STRONG HALF YEAR RESULTS COUPLED WITH THE SALE OF 13 NON-CORE BUSINESSES
Esporta today (Thursday, 14 July) announces the sale of a 13-club package of non-core health and fitness clubs to Virgin Active whilst at the same time reporting growth with strong half year results of 5% like for like sales and an 11% increase in EBITDA (January to end June 2005).
The sale means an exit from the Spanish market for Esporta. The six Spanish clubs had previously been earmarked for sale in 2004. Seven non-racquets sites in the UK* are also part of the package.
This is in line with the stated strategy of the business to exit from its loss-making operations in Continental Europe and focus on the UK premium sector in which it has a leading position. At the same time Esporta has signed a deal to open a premium racquets club in Norwich which is due to begin trading in early 2006.
Chief executive Neil Gillis has been in the driving seat for two years and in this time has demonstrated a U-turn in Esporta's fortunes:
"We have a clear strategy of becoming the leading player in the UK premium health club market. The disposal of the Spanish businesses and seven of our non-core UK assets together with the opening of a further premium racquets club will move us rapidly in this direction.
"Our like for like sales growth of +5% and EBITDA growth of +11% is clear evidence that this strategy is working. We now have the funding and management focus to expand our UK racquets business and we are looking hard at a number of opportunities to achieve this."
*UK club sales: Rugby, Chelmsford, Bolton, Crawley, Birmingham, Gloucester, Medway.
Spanish club sales: Madrid Tres Aguas, Madrid Las Rozas, Barcelona
Valles, Barcelona Can Drago, Alicante and Valencia.
Ends
Note to editors:
Additional information:
Esporta 1 January to 30 June 2005
| EBITDA | +11% |
| Like for like sales (UK) | +5% |
| Net member gain since 1 Jan 2005 | 9,300 (+2%) |
| Yield growth | +3% |
| Retention growth | +2% |
| UK club membership total | 220,000 |
For further information please contact:
Joanna Randall, Corixa Communications, 0117 949 3394
Email: Joanna.randall@corixa.co.uk
Date of issue: 14 July 2005