Smartfit Escola de Ginástica e Dança S.A

What it is

Smart Fit traces its roots to the Bio Ritmo gym founded in 1996; in 2009, the company pivoted to a model that offered good equipment and large facilities at low monthly prices, a formula that propelled it to become the dominant fitness network in Latin America. Today its flagship Smart Fit brand accounts for most revenue, while it also runs the premium Bio Ritmo gyms and a growing digital wellness arm.

The company now operates 2,084 locations across 16 countries, with plans starting at around R$100 (US$19)/month — roughly $19 — making gym membership affordable to a mass market that global rivals typically ignore.

Who owns it

Smart Fit listed on B3’s Novo Mercado in July 2021, raising roughly R$2.3bn (US$446 mn); controlling shareholders are the Corona founding family, with about 15% of shares, and private-equity firm Pátria Investimentos, with roughly 33%. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) holds about 12%, and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC holds roughly 8%.

Pátria’s stake sits inside two finite-life private equity funds that have been shareholders since 2010; their exit window runs to 2027, with a possible extension to 2029 — a potential source of share-price pressure if Pátria sells into the market.

Who runs it

Founder Edgard Corona, who built the company over three decades, stepped up to chair the board of directors in early 2026; his son Diogo Corona moved from Chief Operating Officer into the CEO role. José Luís Rizzardo Pereira became CFO, combining that role with responsibility for investor relations, treasury, and mergers and acquisitions.

The company framed the changes as planned succession and a strengthening of corporate governance — a classic founder transition, with the patriarch shifting to strategy and his successor taking day-to-day control.

The money, in plain words

Revenue has grown about 30% a year for two consecutive years — from R$4.2bn (US$815 mn) in 2023 to R$5.6bn (US$1.1 bn) in 2024 to R$7.2bn (US$1.4 bn) in 2025 (our calculation) — driven almost entirely by opening more gyms and adding members rather than raising prices sharply. For the first time, full-year net revenue surpassed R$7 billion (US$1.4 bn) in 2025, a 30% increase over 2024.

For every real of sales the company keeps about 9 cents as net profit — a net margin of 9.0% (our calculation), reasonable for a business still investing heavily in expansion. For every real shareholders have put in, the company earns about 12 cents a year — a return on equity of 12.1% (our calculation), decent but below what the business should reach once new gyms mature.

At 16.8 times earnings (P/E of 16.8×), the stock is not cheap, but it is pricing in continued growth. Adjusted net debt stood at 1.78 times trailing operating profit (adjusted net debt/EBITDA of 1.78×) at year-end 2025 — manageable, though it does mean the company is net debt, not net cash.

What it is doing now

Smart Fit opened a record 341 new clubs in 2025 — the most in its history — ending the year with 2,084 clubs across 16 countries. The year also marked its entry into Morocco, its first location outside the Americas.

TotalPass, its corporate wellness platform that sells gym access to companies as an employee benefit, grew its user base 62% to 1.7 million; in Brazil, the platform’s partner network expanded to over 32,000 clubs. TotalPass users currently pay a lower average fee than direct members — a gap management says it intends to narrow — which is compressing margins slightly in the near term.

What to watch

• Pátria’s exit. The two private equity funds holding Pátria’s ~33% stake have a finite life with an exit window to 2027–2029; a large secondary sale could weigh on the share price.
• New-gym ramp-up. Newly opened locations are still in ramp-up and carry lower margins; how quickly they reach maturity will determine whether the profit margin expands or stalls.
• TotalPass economics. The roughly 40% revenue-per-user gap between TotalPass members and direct subscribers is the main drag on consolidated margins and the key metric to track each quarter.
• Succession execution. The handover from founder Edgard to CEO Diogo Corona is fresh; investors will be watching whether strategy and capital discipline hold through the transition.

This is news, not investment advice.