A FLOOD of first-time gym members helped health clubs group Esporta which has opened a club in Woodstock Road, Oxford to a muscular set of profits at its half-year stage, writes David Duffy.

The group, which currently has 26 clubs, turned in bulging profits before tax of 4.5m for the six months to June 30, up from 2.6m a year earlier. Turnover was 38.5m against 32.8m.

Esporta said during the period its membership increased by 22 per cent year on year and stood at 126,000 at the end of the period.

Chairman John Grieves said: The majority of the new members are joining a health club for the first time which confirms our view that there is considerable unfilled demand for our premium product.

We believe that the proportion of the population using health clubs and the amount they are prepared to spend will continue to increase over the longer term.

He added that revenues for clubs opened in 1999 and prior years had grown by five per cent in the first six months of the year.

And Oxford, Edinburgh and Northampton, which opened this year, were performing well.