UK health club chain LA Fitness has unveiled a record jump in profits, crediting its popular in-house training programmes.

The company on Tuesday said pre-tax profits for the six months to 31 January climbed to �3m, 38% up on the same period one year earlier.

And turnover soared by 78% on the year-earlier period to �21m, boosted by a 65% surge in membership figures.

The company's buoyant performance bucks recent trends in the UK health club industry, which is showing signs of slowing after several years of explosive growth in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Investors cheer

In March, rival British gym company Holmes Place warned that increasing competition in the UK market may curb growth in the year to come.

But LA Fitness chairman Peter Jacobs said the company had made "excellent progress in a market that is proving testing for other health and fitness club models."

He attributed LA Fitness's success to the company's policy of offering training programmes to members.

In the City, LA Fitness shares were trading 15.5p higher at 218p in early afternoon trade on Tuesday.

European expansion

The company, which runs 46 gyms in the UK, opened a club in Barcelona last month, its first in mainland Europe.

With further expansion planned in the UK and Spain, LA Fitness said it is on track to take its total number of clubs to 74 by July 2003.

The company, which aims to open a total of 100 clubs in the UK alone in the longer term, added that it is well placed to cash in on "substantial growth opportunities" in Europe.