Skelly and Tooke pump iron

One More Thing:Fitness queen Jackie Skelly continues to pump iron. Skelly and her partner Mark Tooke are spending €6 million on two new gyms that will open in the next 12 months in Rathfarnham and in Newbridge.

Skelly has opened eight fitness centre since 2003 in the greater Dublin area. About 9 per cent of the population in Ireland is a member a gym, which puts us behind trends in Britain. So there's headroom for growth.

Competition is intense. Ben Dunne has a handful of fitness clubs in Dublin and regularly takes to the airwaves to promoted his price offers, targeting Skelly in particular.

Every new housing estate in the suburbs seems to come with the promise of a crêche and a gym.

In a bid to stay one step ahead of the competition, Skelly is introducing a loyalty programme called "Gym Miles" to reward regular visitors to her fitness emporiums. Members clock up their miles with every visit and can then trade them in for retail and holiday vouchers.

Similar schemes have been used in the United States and Skelly's move is believed to be attracting interest from Britain. Word has it that the David Lloyd Fitness chain, which is being sold by Whitbread for £925 million, is taking a close look at "Gym Miles".

If they want to replicate the idea, they will have to pay Skelly as she has cleverly trademarked the "Gym Miles" concept.

Skelly's business is ticking over very nicely at present. The fitness chain increased its revenues last year from €7.6 million to €12.1 million and banked a profit of €1.6 million. It is Ireland's biggest fitness group with more than 20,000 members. With about €25 million in venture capital money behind it, some form or corporate activity can't be too far away.

Skelly has floated the idea of a stock market listing and has talked openly about selling the business some day. With so much private equity money looking for a moment, that day might not be too far off.