The sector has found a new level of maturity, sophistication and success in the last 12 months, with a whirlwind of innovation, wellness collaborations and deals driving the pace of change

The last year has seen the sector shrugging off the legacy of the pandemic as operators ramp up growth in response to consumer demand for fitness, health and wellness services.

Money is moving again and investors who found themselves unable to exit due to COVID are passing on their investments, with transactions for Barry’s, LifeFit Group, VivaFit and Solidcore completed, while Crunch and Lift Brands are expected soon.

Mergers and acquisitions have also accelerated as investors seek to merge synergistic investments.

Operators that had a tough pandemic – some due to being in city centres – have been fixing their finances, with deals for Blink Fitness, Gymbox and 1Rebel, while businesses that sought court protection in the aftermath of the lockdowns, such as Fitness First UK and Virgin Active, have spent the year racing forward with new leadership, growth strategies and fresh investment.

It’s a sign of a maturing market that less clubs close these days. They’re more likely to be taken up by another operator as the sector gets better at evaluating the offering and price point that resonates in each location.

Landlords are more actively engaged and better informed about which operator is most likely to have the covenants they’re looking for, meaning property owners are actively driving change in the sector as never before.

Closing sites used to be a hush hush matter and something to be done by stealth, but this approach has largely been consigned to history, with operators now open about the need to ‘right-size’ their estates and stay laser focused on changing market demand.

There’s now a brisk and refreshingly routine trade in sites in most major cities which is starting to feel akin to that of the hospitality market.

We’ve had an injection of fresh leadership into the sector in the last year – much coming from hospitality – with new CEOs at PureGym, Planet Fitness, Xponential Fitness, Places Leisure and Purpose Brands – the business formed by the merger of Orangetheory and Self Esteem Brands – and this has brought new energy, creativity and tactics and greater consumer insight.

Innovation, such as telehealth upsells and other secondary spend options, is enabling greater profitability while also giving better service and we’re quicker to recognise the power of our customer base as brands increasingly target wellness consumers.

With so much great progress in only 12 months, you could say we went into the pandemic as an emerging market and are coming out of it fully-formed, as a sector to be reckoned with.