Ben Dunne gym revenues set to top €10m this year

Businessman Ben Dunne expects his expanding gym business to generate revenues of over €10.3m in its current financial year.

Mr Dunne made the forecast while commenting on newly-filed accounts for part of his network of fitness companies and said combined revenues for the group topped €9m in the 12 months to the end of last May.

Operating profit for the entire group of businesses totalled €3.2m, with net profits amounting to €1.4m.

Mr Dunne said that in the current year, which runs to the end of this month, the group will generate operating profits of €4m.

Mr Dunne has invested €15m into the business, which has plans to have 20 gyms open.

By the end of this year, the group will have 12 gyms in its portfolio.

“I was happy with how the business went last year and I’m even happier with the business this year,” Mr Dunne said.

He said the gym network has 50,000 members.

“It is a great business to be in. There are more and more people wanting to lose weight and do activities. If they never lose weight, it is good for your mind.

“We are not going for the elite, we are going for the middle-of-the-road customer. We still rely on price, quality and the friendliness of our staff.

“We see a huge future for the business,” he said,

He added that he is “making sure that the business can expand out of its own resources and I’m confident that we can grow to 20 clubs. I am not going to down the road of expanding the business on bank borrowings.”

“It is a growing industry. What I want to do is expand but also bring our existing clubs to ‘cruising speed’ where they would record revenues of €12m and an operating profit of €5m.”

Mr Dunne said that his UK business which operates gyms in Manchester and Liverpool “is doing “just okay”.

“We are a small fish in a big pond over there. All of our planned expansion is in the Irish market,” he said.

New accounts for Barkisland (Developments) Ltd — the holding company for a portion of Mr Dunne’s gym business — underline the rude health the business is currently in.

The Barkisland figures show annual profits of €233,785 for Westpoint Health and Fitness; a profit of €499,201 for Carlisle Health and Fitness and a profit of €364,228 for the Santry Health and Fitness business.

Those accounts also show that Mr Dunne has over the years ploughed €2.8m into that firm alone and that Barkisland was able to repay €550,423 of those monies owed last year.