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GREG OLIVER There’s a new fitness giant in Australia – and the Fitness & Lifestyle Group has plans to spread its wings even further, as its CEO explains to Kate Cracknell
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he fact that Quadrant, a well-respected private equity firm, has invested in us is a real coming of age moment – not just for us, but for the whole of the Australian fitness sector.” So says Greg Oliver, CEO of both the Fitness & Lifestyle Group and Goodlife Health Clubs, one of the group’s businesses. “It’s recognition that fitness is a worthwhile investment.” Oliver is referring to the recent deals which, in the space of just two months last summer, saw Quadrant populate its newly created Fitness & Lifestyle Group by acquiring a number of health club brands. In August 2016, it bought Goodlife Health Clubs and its weight loss brand Hypoxi from Ardent Leisure – a deal worth AU$260m – as Ardent switched its focus to becoming an exclusively attractions and entertainment firm. Also in August, Quadrant acquired fitness franchise Jetts. Then, in September, it bought Fitness First Australia (see ‘Growing a fitness empire’, p34). The combined group currently sits at 76 Goodlife clubs, 66 Fitness Firsts, 178 franchises and 34 corporate clubs in Jetts’ Australian estate alone, plus 19 in-house Hypoxi studios. The group is headed up by Oliver, who alongside Quadrant has been instrumental in bringing the various deals to fruition.
And Oliver has exciting plans for this combined portfolio of “highly complementary” brands: Fitness First at the premium end of the market, as it always has been in Australia; Goodlife in the mid-market; Jetts a market leader in the low-cost segment; and Hypoxi a boutique offering designed to get nontraditional gym-goers into a health club setting.
CREATING USPS
“Goodlife has already evolved significantly over the last couple of years, particularly in the areas of technology and partnerships,” Oliver explains. “We were a bricks and mortar business and we saw the online fitness phenomenon emerging: people were creating their own personas and providing online programming and getting a huge audience. Most operators would have looked at that as a significant threat to the industry. I saw it as an opportunity. “One of our key partners is now Emily Skye, one of the world’s leading online fitness personalities with 11 million followers. Emily has created group exercise programmes for us, which are already available in 63 of our 76 clubs. We’re leveraging her influence to broaden our appeal. In return, she’s able to give even more to her followers: a safe environment in which to do her workouts, with all the support and equipment they need.” He continues: “Then, on the technology side of things, we have Hypoxi – the studio concept based on the equipment of the same name. Hypoxi combines low-impact exercise and nutritional advice with vacuum and compression technology for weight loss. It’s an in-club boutique concept, but rather than being designed for the already fit as so many boutiques are, it’s focused on figure shaping, targeting those who might otherwise be lost to the fitness industry. “I firmly believe that, as a sector, we exist to change people’s lives and improve families and communities – so weight loss and figure shaping is something we really should be offering. But our sector has consistently failed to do so, even though the demand is there: Hypoxi is a significant contributor to the financial performance of The group has partnered with social media influencer Emily Skye the overall Goodlife business.
healthclubmanagement.co.uk March 2017 ©Cybertrek 2017