Ben Dunne’s gym group last year swung back into profit to record operating profits of €3 million.
The business returned to profit following Mr Dunne shutting down six of his 12 gyms after exiting rent deals for the various premises.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr Dunne remarked “paying rent is a mug’s game”.
He said: “My own business has shrunk dramatically, but there was a very good reason for that as we took a view on rents which were crazy.”
Mr Dunne said that turning around the business involved hard work.
He said: “I didn’t play golf for three years while all of this was going on. When your business is in trouble something has to give, and you can’t play golf three days a week with your business under the cosh - well I couldn’t do it anyway.”
He said that the matter of his golf handicap is “a minor detail” in such circumstances.
Expansion again
Mr Dunne said that the business now consists of six gyms and confirmed he is eyeing opportunities to expand the number of gyms again.
He said: “We have a very strong balance sheet, no borrowings and plenty of cash. We want to expand but not expanding anywhere where we have to pay rent.“
Mr Dunne said that any new gym premises will be purchased. He said: “I wouldn’t take another rented property.”
He said during the Covid-19 pandemic, his gym business “was caught badly” with the costs associated with its rented premises "but it didn’t put us out of business".
Mr Dunne said that only two of his current gyms are rented properties but said that they “are 'capped and collared’. Rent can only go up by 2 per cent and can only drop by 1 per cent, and we have break clauses in our favour”.
On the turnaround in the business, Mr Dunne said that in the 12 months to the end of last May the company recorded an opening profit of €3 million after making an operating loss of €3 million in the prior year.
He said: “There is no fun in losing money, it really becomes hard work.”
He said: “We have had a huge swing-around. Any business that swings around from making big losses to making a profit - you would be very naive to say you are not happy with that.”
Mr Dunne said with the closure of half the gyms revenues declined from €13 million to €6.5 million while members declined from around 50,000 to 25,000 today.
He said: “We are feeling good about our business today. This time last year we didn’t know if people would go back to the gyms.”
Mr Dunne said that the level of profit recorded for last year “is holding strong” in the current year.
Mr Dunne made his comments when asked to comment on new accounts lodged by his Barkisland (Developments) Ltd which show that the gym management company recorded a modest loss of €60,636 to the end of May 2022.
At the end of last May, the firm had accumulated profits of €3.93 million.
Written by Gordan Deegan
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