Viva Leisure continues expansion with 91st facility opening and record membership numbers

ASX-listed Viva Leisure is continuing its growth with the opening of its 91st facility today, following the opening of four other clubs in the past week.

Today’s opening of the hiit republic facility at Corrimal in the NSW Illawarra regions is the group’s 17th hiit republic location to open.

It follows new Club Lime gyms opening in Brisbane, Canberra and Corrimal last week and a further hiit republic opening in Canberra, bringing the group’s expansion to 10 new locations opened since 1st July 2020.

Today also sees all the group’s facilities operating with its five locations in metropolitan Melbourne opening after the easing of Victoria’s lockdown.

Viva Leisure last month announced that it had reached the membership milestone of 100,000 members - a record figure that does not include the Plus Fitness network of members, which remains at roughly 175,000 members.

When those numbers are included, the total group membership (direct and network) to 275,000 members.

Viva Leisure has also reported that its membership visits have rebounded strongly, with 552,871 visits in the month of September. This eclipsed January and February levels, which saw approximately 450,000 member visits.

In addition, Viva advised its Plus Fitness business is performing well with two new locations open in Sydney, and another 16 facilities scheduled to open in the current financial year.

October also saw the group acquired FitHQ in the Sydney suburb of Campbelltown, which added 1,500 new members to its client base. The company will look to rebrand the club and refit with new equipment.

Viva Leisure Chief Executive and Managing Director, Harry Konstantinou has highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity to acquire more smaller single and multi-club operators.

Commenting on the group's performance in the current business environment, Konstantinou stated "September saw the largest amount of new member signups in our history.

"In February 2020, prior to the pandemic, each of our clubs averaged 6,015 member visits per month, and this has increased to 6,428 visits per month per club in September, a significant increase which is building a strong platform for continued growth as members and the general community understand the benefits of a healthy body and mind."

Image: Club Lime Corrimal (top) and Club Lime’s new East Brisbane location (below).