Record revenue at former BBC Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne’s health and hotels group

The health club and hotels group owned by former BBC Dragons’ Den investor Duncan Bannatyne has a record revenue and its highest profit since before the pandemic.

The Bannatyne Group has reported a pre-tax profit of £10.1m for 2023, up from £1m in 2022, according to newly filed accounts with Companies House.

The Darlington-headquartered group also revealed a revenue of £138.9m for the year, a rise from £126.9m.

In 2021, The Bannatyne Group’s revenue totalled £75.5m while it made a pre-tax loss of £12.9m,

The group’s pre-tax profits have not been higher than 2023’s total since the £12.7m it achieved in 2019.

Since The Bannatyne Group was incorporated in 2015, its annual revenue figure has never been higher than 2023’s total.

Revenue from its health clubs increased from £119m to £132.9m in the year but fell from £7.9m to £6m for its hotels.

During the year the number of health clubs in the group increased by one to 69 after opening in Westwood Cross, Broadstairs, in July 2023.

However, the number of hotels it operates went from four to three after one was sold in March 2023 for net proceeds of £2.9m.

The group’s health clubs turned a pre-tax profit of £10.1m, up from £1.8m, while its hotels went from a loss of £782,000 to a loss of £41,000.

During 2023, the average number of people employed by The Bannatyne Group decreased from 2,807 to 2,752.

In 2020 and 2021, the group received £24.5m from the government-backed Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Repayments started in June 2021 at £1.5m per quarter. As of the end of 2023, the outstanding balance owed by the group stood at £5m, down from £17m from the prior year.

As of February 29, 2024, the entire CLBILS facility had been repaid.

The Bannatyne Health Clubs chain began in 1997 with its first location in North Yorkshire.

Duncan Bannatyne was on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den from 2005 to 2015.