Goodlife health clubs owner Ardent Leisure is expanding its Australian fitness chain and more than doubling its strongly performing US family entertainment business.
The owner of Gold Coast theme parks has also flagged a 38 per cent rise in its annual profit.
The company will buy all eight Western Australian Fitness First stores for $32.5 million, more than doubling its Goodlife portfolio to 14 in its strongest performing state.
Chief executive Greg Shaw said Ardent Leisure was excited by the growth opportunities in WA, where Goodlife membership already outperforms Fitness First.
"Our existing clubs in Western Australia, even though they are smaller than the Fitness First clubs, already trade at 20 per cent higher membership."
Goodlife memberships jumped more than 20 per cent when Ardent bought six South Australian Fitness First stores in 2012, he said.
Ardent Leisure plans to keep all 300 of Fitness First's WA staff after the purchase.
The company plans to raise $50 million by issuing new shares to pay for the purchase.
Proceeds left over will be used to more than double its number of Main Event family indoor activity centres in the US to 35 by the end of the 2016/17 year.
Main Event has been the main driver of Ardent Leisure's growth in 2013/14, and further earnings growth has helped the company's expected net profit for the year to increase to $49 million.
Mr Shaw said Main Events would continue to be perform well as it expands across major US cities including Chicago, Phoenix and Orlando.
"Our like-for-like revenue growth is up 13 per cent in July which is just phenomenal," he said.
"We've got a business model that's really unique in that market, there's not a lot of direct competition and there's a chance for us to really scale this business across the broader US market."
Fitness First finance director Brent Cubis said the WA Fitness First stores had performed well, but the company was playing to its strengths by focusing on its east coast gyms.
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