Virgin Active has a theory it is now spending hard to prove: that South Africans, and the well-heeled elsewhere, will pay serious money for a gym that behaves more like a country club. The health-club operator is rolling out large-format "social wellness clubs" across seven markets, ahead of a listing or sale within two years.
The Point proof
Its clearest test case is at home. Virgin Active poured R130m (£5.7m) into a complete overhaul of its Point flagship in Cape Town, which reopened in February with pools, padel, recovery facilities and co-working built in. It also pushed the price up sharply: a standard membership went from R1,500 to R2,499 a month on a 12-month deal. The gamble appears to be paying off. Membership dipped to 7,600 during the refurbishment but recovered to 8,900 by the end of March despite the increase, and revenue at the club is up 43% year-on-year. Virgin says the club is already generating a 16% return on invested capital, which it expects to climb to 37% as it matures.
A roll-out before a listing
Point is one of four clubs opened or upgraded so far, alongside sites in Sydney, Doha and Mayfair, with Milan due in early 2027. Over the medium term, Virgin plans 37 new clubs, the bulk of them in Italy, plus more in London, four in South Africa and one in Singapore. CEO Dean Kowarski frames the concept as a "second space" between home and office. "It's that intentional space in between, where a lifestyle, all inclusive of training, recovery, focus, work connection, nutrition, restoration and community, is designed to coexist," he says.
Behind the fitness talk sits a corporate endgame. Parent company Brait has begun preparing the paperwork for a listing, most likely in the UK with a secondary offer on the JSE, and needs the profits from this premium push to show up first. The clubs, in other words, are as much a pre-listing story as a fitness one.
The pattern repeats abroad. Its first social wellness club, at Sydney's Westfield Bondi Junction, opened in July 2025 for £6.5m and already carries 2,400 members, while a London upgrade at Chiswick Riverside lifted membership 15% and revenue 23%. Each new site, Virgin argues, is a repeatable template rather than a one-off splurge.
