At this writing, we just completed the 5th IHRSA European Congress. It was our best event ever with a record 379 participants-an increase of 38% over 2004-representing 22 countries. We had a stellar lineup of speakers, and the mood among the participants was extremely good...most were reporting good and improving business conditions.
It is quite obvious that the European Congress has established itself as THE networking event for the leaders in Europe. As a result, we will be working hard in the coming months--based on the evaluations and comments we received from participants--to improve on this event for 2006, when it will be held from Monday September 18 through Thursday September 21 in Amsterdam.
The growth of the Congress is a clear sign of the increasing professionalism in our industry. As you have probably read elsewhere, at the end of September 2005, Fitness First (425 clubs worldwide) was sold for £835m. Other deals took place in the last couple of months as well, including the purchase by Virgin Active of the Esporta clubs in Spain and the sale of 15 Holmes Place clubs in Spain and Portugal to a group of local investors.
These mergers and acquisitions came on the back of the record sales price for 24 Hour Fitness in the USA earlier this year for US$1.6bn. If this is not an indication of the attractiveness and health of our industry, I don't know what would be. These deals are made by large venture capital funds with, usually, a five-year horizon, in which they will exit their investment again-with a healthy return of course! So the confidence that these firms have, even at these EBITDA multiples, is a very good sign for the medium- and long-term growth prospects of our industry in Europe.
However, this fast growth and increased management complexity has created problems for operators to fill staff positions with qualified people and they are constantly battling to groom people for higher levels of management.
Therefore, at the request of industry leaders, IHRSA is going to help even more on the educational side. First, there is the tested and proven IHRSA Institute for Professional Club Management, which takes place in August every year. It is a four-day intensive course, conducted at famous Babson College in the Boston area. A selection of top-level industry speakers covers all key aspects of club management, with the main focus on Sales and Marketing.
In addition to the Institute, we are now in the final stages of creating a new executive-level event, which will be held at the top business school in Spain, IESE in Barcelona, and we have dubbed it the "IHRSA University."
IHRSA University will be a week-long course, with world-class teachers, complemented with speaking engagements by top executives from our industry. There will be no more than 40 participants and the focus will be on an individual learning and action plan, based on pre-determined needs. We will inform you further about this as soon as dates and other details are known.
As you can see, we are continuously trying to determine how we can help to grow, promote and protect the industry!
See you all in Las Vegas in March 2006 for the celebration IHRSA's 25th anniversary!
