F45 announces Vive Active acquisition and 24% growth in last quarter

The ongoing growth of F45 Training has seen the fitness franchisor announce revenue of US$27.2 million for the third quarter of 2021 - an increase of 24% from the prior year period - driven by the sales of new franchises sold and studio openings.

The Australian founded but now Texas, USA-based brand has also announced its purchase of Sydney-based Vive Active which offers reformer and mat Pilates workouts through in-studio, at-home streaming and on-demand classes.

Following the acquisition, which is expected to be completed this month, F45 intends to scale Vive Active by selectively adding new company-owned studios in key markets, as well as franchised locations in the USA and internationally. F45 has already received a multi-unit commitment from an existing franchise development group to expand the business in the United States.

The company still anticipates its full-year revenue at between US$132 million and US$137 million despite upping its expected full-year new net franchises sold to between 830 and 850, compared to its prior range of 800 to 850, and upping its full-year net studio openings of between 240 and 260, compared to prior range of 220 to 260.

It also anticipates full-year adjusted EBITDA between US$50 million and US $52 million.

Commenting on the results, F45 Training Chief Executive, Adam Gilchrist stated “we are very pleased with the pace and visibility of our franchisee pipeline, with over 3,000 franchises sold to-date, approximately half of which are open studios.

“The other half represents more than 1,400 sold, but not yet opened studios, a significant portion of which are part of multi-unit deals with well-capitalized franchisee groups. These studios are contractually obligated to open, and we continue to have high confidence in our partner’s ability to do so in a timely manner.”

In the third quarter, F45 reported loss from operations of $90.6 million while adjusted EBITDA increased 37% to $10.1 million.

Same store sales increased 67% in the USA, but because 60% of the brand’s Australian network was closed for the quarter, its global same-store sales increased just 6%.

In the third quarter, F45 sold 210 franchises and opened 63 studios (compared to 101 in the prior year period), bringing its total count to 3,011 franchises sold and 1,618 total studios. Net franchises sold totalled 210 compared to 155 in the prior year period.

During the third quarter, F45 Training had 3 million visits to its F45 studios in the USA, with Gilchrist noting visitation now is over 2.7 times per week on average.

One other development in the quarter involved F45 Training collaborating with OneSpaWorld to offer F45 Training’s 45-minute functional training fitness classes on its Celebrity Cruise ships.

Images: Vive Active studios (top and below) and F45 members (middle). Credit: Vive Active/F45.