Sentio Partners has assisted Yorkshire gym chain Xercise4Less to pump up its rollout plans by securing a £5m investment from Business Growth Fund (BGF).
BGF will help Xercise4Less founder and managing director Jon Wright to accelerate the brand’s ambitious expansion plans – which aims to create around 4,000 jobs.
With end of year financials just finalised, showing a turnover of £7.5m, this has more than doubled from 2012 and the brand is now set to open another 100 clubs in the next five years.
The business has grown quickly over the last 12 months, by over 250% increase on the management’s initial five year plan.
Mr Wright said: “With the UK gym market being valued at around £4bn, with a growing trend that sees the more nimble low-cost gyms increasingly taking market share from mid-market operators, this is an exciting time to be aggressive about our growth. BGF’s funding will give us the financial and operational facilities to continue our expansion at a key time for the market and we look forward to working with the team over the coming years.”
Xercise4Less currently has agreements signed on a further 14 sites, which sees the brand take on more market share in Yorkshire, the North East and the South West.
Its gyms are typically located at large out-of-town sites with floor sizes of 30,000 sq ft.
A brand going from strength to strength, Xercise4Less also recently announced a partnership with Tesco at its Stockton store in which it will provide the retailer’s shoppers with the opportunity to combine their shopping trip with their weekly workouts.
The site, to be branded Xercise4Less at Tesco is currently being developed on the 31,910 sq ft mezzanine floor of the Tesco Durham Road store and the opening of this site will create more than 50 jobs in the area.
Mr Wright added: “The Xercise4Less concept is growing because we believe that a budget gym shouldn’t offer a budget experience. Cost remains a major issue for many consumers today but we work hard to ensure our members benefit from many added value services. The facilities we offer and the price at which we offer them, continue to attract a large tranche of new consumers into the market.”
Will Arnold of Sentio Partners said: “We are delighted to have worked with Jon and the team at Xercise4Less; it is an exciting brand with a very simple but attractive consumer offering. The company has established a unique model in a high growth sector and the management team, under Jon’s guidance, has demonstrated its expertise in rolling out new gyms over the past 18 months and consistently delivering a fantastic customer experience at the same time.”
