INVESTOR PERSPECTIVE


NEVER SAY NEVER E


NICK BATRAM LOOKS AT THE POTENTIAL FOR HEALTH AND FITNESS OPERATORS TO REJOIN THE UK STOCK MARKET


arly last year, news that the énergie Group was looking to float on the London market brought back fond memories


of a segment of the leisure industry that was once the darling of the stock market. At one point, there were almost a dozen listed companies that were either pure health and fitness club operators, or broader leisure companies with a significant presence in the fitness industry.


Today, with the exception of a few hotel groups, there is no listed health and fitness presence in the UK. So what went wrong?


A MOVE TO PRIVATE EQUITY Every company has a different tale to tell, but there are common themes. The explosion of health and fi tness clubs onto the stock market gave operators access to capital that they had never


really had in terms of scale and cost. This, in turn, drove a land grab in what was still a relatively immature market. A combination of increased competition and quality control failure as far as property was concerned meant that returns started to decline and profi t targets were missed. Operators began to fall out of love with the quoted market, and investors began to fall out of love with the fi tness industry.


énergie’s withdrawal from its prospective IPO should not be seen ‘as an indication of the market’s willingness to re-embrace fi tness’ 52 Take part in the Health Club Management reader survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/NQDN2R6 January 2013 © Cybertrek 2013


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84