Contrary to what happens in chess, where the objective of the players is to eliminate the opponents’ pieces of equipment, the fitness board low cost In Spain, it has been observing the irruption of new actors and pieces that are gradually coming into play for some time. Synergym is one of the most active players in this particular game that is played throughout the territory. The Andalusian company is the chain with the closest development openings in the country, with a total of 34. Bearing in mind that Synergym invests an average of one million euros per center, the company has committed a disbursement of 34 million euros to exceed a hundred gyms in 2024, year of its eleventh anniversary. The chain was founded in 2013, although it did not launch its first gym, in Malaga, until 2014.
The company has started the year meeting the expectations generated in January as far as its expansion plans are concerned: reaching, or at least approaching, 80 gyms in the first half of 2023. After launching 15 clubs in the top five months of the year, Synergym currently manages 79 clubs throughout the country, just one less than expected for these dates. A minimal difference that is explained by the delays linked to the work processes. It is, only behind the 22 gyms that Basic-Fit has opened until May, the operator that has launched the most projects in Spain in 2023.
The Dutch chain, in fact, is one of the two players segment low cost that still surpass Synergym in number of facilities in Spain: it manages 110 establishments, 31 more than the Andalusian manager. Altafit, with 84 clubs, will give up the second position before the end of the year, since it does not plan to grow until its future is resolved. The company directed by Jordi Bella is ready to compete with Basic-Fit for the leadership in implementation at street level in Spain.
If the projects that both companies have already signed to grow in the coming months are taken into account, the Spanish chain will cut the gap significantly, since would be located with 113 sports centers, compared to the 124 establishments that Basic-Fit will reach when it launches the next 14 openings that it has announced. Keeping up with this last company will not be easy, since it has in mind to reach between 450 centers and 650 gyms in Spain in 2030.
Synergym, for now, does not want to be left behind. Having completed the expansion phase scheduled for the first part of the year, it now faces a second half in which it expects to grow at a similar rate: for now, it has already set a date for nine of the projects it has signed: three will see the light of day in August , four in September, one in October and, finally, another in November, if there are no delays in the schedule provided by the company. It will be a very distributed territorial growth, given that it contemplates the opening of three gyms in Catalonia; two centers in Galicia; and one in Andalusia; The Rioja; Castilla-La Mancha and Asturias. In addition, last week it announced that it is preparing three more openings in the Catalan region, with no confirmed date yet.
So that, The chain will close the year with at least 88 operational gyms, 24 more than it had at the beginning of 2023. It is not ruled out that some other of the 25 projects that it has signed and is in the phase of obtaining licenses or works can be added. The forecast is that 2023 will be the second year with the most openings for Synergym since its founding, only behind 2022, when it launched 28 new establishments. The Malaga chain has drawn up an organic growth plan, building all its gyms from scratch.
If there are no impediments in the coming months, Synergym will meet the milestone it had set for itself in the year it was founded: reaching 100 gyms in its tenth year of operation. The chain, yes, will not stop its growth there, since it aspires to manage an even larger network of centers in the future.
Presence in 14 autonomous communities
It will do so with a very diversified territorial structure. Despite the fact that, initially, his main area of influence was Andalusia, where he was born, he has progressively extended his hand to other regions. They currently have a presence in 14 of the 17 autonomous communities: he only needs to plant a flag in Cantabria, Extremadura and the Canary Islands.
Their short and medium-term roadmap does not include these three territories at the moment, but it does reinforce their presence in the rest of the locations. Thus, of the next 34 openings, six will be in Catalonia; five in the Basque Country; four in Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha; three in Galicia; two in Aragon, Asturias, Murcia and the Valencian Community; and one in Castilla y León, the Balearic Islands, La Rioja, and Navarra.
The company, which has not yet revealed the turnover obtained in 2022, expected to enter 20 million euros last year, close to double the business it moved in 2021, when it entered 10.8 million euros. The chain is controlled by the founding partner and businessman Sergey Miteyko, who controls 50.3% of the capital, followed by his partner Leonard Lvovich and the Growth Partner fund, who have 16.7% each. This British investment firm entered Synergym in 2019 with a capital injection of 5 million euros. For its part, Oxy Capital entered in 2021 and holds 16.1% of the company, whose valuation amounted to 35 million euros when the Portuguese fund entered the capital.
