Quick Update On Basic-Fit ($BFIT)
Basic-Fit ($BFIT): 2025 trading update
Basic-Fit is the largest fitness chain in Europe.
I first wrote about Basic-Fit a little over a year ago. Shares were worth about €22 and later dropped as low as €17.
Since then, shares have doubled from that low to around €33 today. This is now my fourth Basic-Fit update post; I hope you haven’t ignored them.
Yesterday, Basic-Fit shared its 2025 trading update, a “preview” of what’s to come when full-year results are released in March.
There’s enough to discuss, so let’s begin.
The Clever Fit Acquisition
In October, Basic-Fit’s franchising plans were finally made concrete when it announced the acquisition of Clever Fit, a leading gym chain in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland).
Basic-Fit purchased Clever Fit for €160 million plus a €15 million earn-out, financed through debt.
Clever Fit has 493 clubs, of which 454 are franchised and the rest owned. In its trading update, Basic-Fit announced it had acquired 17 clubs from an existing franchisee. As a result, Basic-Fit has taken over 435 franchised clubs and 56 owned clubs.
In 2024, Clever Fit reported €50 million in revenue and €14.5 million in EBITDA.
Basic-Fit also provided a small update on Clever Fit’s recent performance. In November and December 2025, Clever Fit reported:
Revenue of €11 million
Underlying EBITDA less rent of €3.5 million
If we extrapolate this across a full year, this implies revenue of €66 million and EBITDA of €21 million.
This already implies solid growth from 2024, yet Basic-Fit “expects to accelerate the expansion of the franchising business rapidly.”
In the summer of 2026, Basic-Fit will rebrand the 56 owned Clever Fit clubs into Basic-Fit clubs.
As a result of the acquisition, Basic-Fit has halted its €40 million share repurchase program. The company repurchased a little over 1 million shares at an average price of €24. In total, Basic-Fit bought back about €24.5 million worth of shares, and the current share price is already well above the average repurchase price.
Alongside the halt of the share repurchase program, Basic-Fit also announced plans to further slow club openings, with just 50 net new clubs planned for 2026. This is obviously not an issue, given that the company has just acquired nearly 500 gyms, including more than 50 owned clubs.
The focus for 2026 will be on optimizing membership growth, profitability, and the integration of Clever Fit, as well as potentially expanding a franchise model under the Basic-Fit brand in existing markets such as France, Germany, and Spain.
Franchising matters for Basic-Fit because it allows the company to scale without putting pressure on the balance sheet. It offers a more capital-efficient way to grow at high margins. Given that Basic-Fit’s balance sheet is not particularly strong, pursuing franchising makes sense.
Details on the Clever Fit acquisition and the future mix of Basic-Fit and Clever Fit are still limited, but management will provide a comprehensive strategy update at the Capital Markets Day in April.
Guidance and Growth
In its update, Basic-Fit provided some preliminary details for 2025.
Revenue guidance, previously €1.375–1.425 billion, has been narrowed to €1.415 billion, at the high end of the prior range.
Additionally, Basic-Fit expects underlying EBITDA less rent of €344 million. As a reminder, a rough way to think about underlying EBITDA less rent is as follows: subtract overhead expenses (including marketing), capex, and taxes, and you arrive at a free cash flow approximation. Since management expects positive free cash flow for the full year, these combined expenses should be below €344 million.
Previous guidance for underlying EBITDA less rent was €330–370 million.
Membership growth remained strong despite a slower pace of club openings. Basic-Fit ended the year with 4.82 million members excluding Clever Fit, implying 13% year-over-year growth.
Average members per club reached 2,902, up from 2,701 in 2024. More clubs are clearly maturing as expansion slows: the company is allowing the existing club base to mature, generate more profit, and eventually fund faster expansion again.
Including Clever Fit, Basic-Fit ended the year with 2,151 clubs and about 5.8 million members.
A year ago, when I wrote my initial thesis, Basic-Fit had “just” 4.2 million members.
Importantly, Basic-Fit also provided initial (and strong) guidance for 2026, which explains why the stock jumped 7% yesterday. All figures include Clever Fit.
Basic-Fit expects revenue of €1.64–1.69 billion, implying growth of 18%. Subtracting Clever Fit’s extrapolated revenue of €66 million suggests core revenue of roughly €1.57–1.64 billion, or 14% growth.
Underlying EBITDA less rent is expected to reach €405–445 million, implying growth of 24%, or 17% when excluding Clever Fit’s contribution.
This points to a big jump in margins in 2026.
CEO Rene Moos also noted that the €35 million in additional staff costs in France to enable 24/7 operations have already been offset by incremental members.
All in all, this was a very solid trading update. I will not provide a valuation update yet because of the remaining unknowns around the mix of Basic-Fit and Clever Fit. It makes sense to wait for more detail in the annual report in March and at the Capital Markets Day in April.
Thanks for reading.
Lucas
Author & Founder, Summit Stocks
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Why did they buy those 17 clubs? Can't find the reason for this. Could be that the franchisees are not willing to pay for the transition. I feel it's important to know this.
I also don't think we can extrapolate the revenue and ebitda numbers. Don't think every month is the same. But its a ballpark number.
Solid anaysis on the Clever Fit acquisition angle. The shift to franchising makes perfect sense given their balance sheet constraints but the margin expansion potential is what really catches my eye. I ran similar franchise rollouts in retail where capital efficiency became the unlock for scaling. That 17% underlying EBITDA growth excluding Clever Fit suggests the core busines is firing on all cylinders right now.