{"id":184654,"date":"2025-10-08T04:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T04:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/184654\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T04:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T04:48:07","slug":"branson-backed-virgin-active-slashes-losses-amid-wfh-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/184654\/","title":{"rendered":"Branson-backed Virgin Active slashes losses amid WFH battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tTuesday 07 October 2025 11:12 am\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tShare<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Facebook\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tX\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Twitter\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on LinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tWhatsApp\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on WhatsApp\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tEmail\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Email\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><img width=\"742\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-1445597757-2.jpg\" class=\"media \" alt=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"sync\"  \/>\t\tSir Richard Branson founded Virgin Active 35 years ago. (Photo by John Lamparski\/Getty Images)\t<\/p>\n<p>Virgin Active, the gym chain founded by Sir Richard Branson, has significantly slashed its losses as its battle with the work-from-home trend continues.<\/p>\n<p>The business, which runs 224 international locations, has reported a pre-ax loss of \u00a378.1m for 2024, down significantly from the \u00a3146.7m it lost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/virgin-active-continues-to-make-huge-loss-despite-revenue-passing-500m\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">in 2023.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk\/company\/07726893\/filing-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">New accounts<\/a> filed with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/people-and-organizations\/companies-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Companies House<\/a> also show its revenue increased from \u00a3511.4m to \u00a3576.3m over the same period.<\/p>\n<p>Virgin Active\u2019s adult membership grew by five per cent to more than one million and is now back above pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n<p>Virgin Active is majority owned (67.6 per cent) by private equity firm Brait, which itself is controlled by South African billionaire Christo Wiese.<\/p>\n<p>Sir Richard Branson\u2019s Virgin Group holds a 16.8 per cent stake while Titan Premier Investments has a 7.9 per cent holding.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=http:\/\/bN-vyc1Q1Ig\" class=\"lty-playbtn\" title=\"Play Video\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPlay Video<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/linktr.ee\/boardroomuncovered\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Subscribe to the Boardroom Uncovered show from City AM here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>No London listing for Virgin Active<\/p>\n<p>Virgin Active was founded in the late 1990s by Sir Richard Branson and Matthew Bucknall, who stepped down as CEO in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/tesco-mobile-returns-to-profit-thanks-to-samsung-galaxy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Tesco Mobile returns to profit thanks to Samsung Galaxy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s first club was opened in Preston, Lancashire.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/virgin-active-billionaire-owner-of-richard-branson-founded-gym-chain-eyes-uk-listing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">November 2024<\/a>, reports suggested that the billionaire majority owner of Virgin Active was looking to list the business in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>However, no such move has since materialised.<\/p>\n<p>Wiese bought into the brand in 2015 for \u00a3682m when plans for an IPO were cancelled.<\/p>\n<p>A statement signed off by the board said: \u201cThe market fundamentals for our business remain strong and we see a growing number of consumers understanding and embracing the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, not only in fitness but in nutrition and broader wellness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile work-from-home trends continue to impact usage levels at city clubs, we are seeing a steady uplift in city club usage and residential demand remains strong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese trends lay a sound foundation for further global growth for the group.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/wembley-park-developer-slashes-losses-by-over-600m\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Wembley Park developer slashes losses by over \u00a3600m<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tSimilarly tagged content: <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tSections\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tCategories\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPeople &amp; Organisations\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tuesday 07 October 2025 11:12 am Share Facebook Share on Facebook X Share on Twitter LinkedIn Share on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[81651,84,60222,6647,9621,20339,102,50,1160,56,54,55,4288,81652,81653,38648,13994],"class_list":{"0":"post-184654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-branson","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-companies-house","11":"tag-fitness","12":"tag-gym","13":"tag-gyms","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-richard-branson","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom","20":"tag-virgin","21":"tag-virgin-active","22":"tag-virgin-group","23":"tag-wfh","24":"tag-work-from-home"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}