Fitness Icon Flexes Bottom Line In 2003

Amid Declining Category, Jazzercise Reports Another Record Year

(Wednesday, November 19, 2003) - Even as participation in other aerobic exercise slips, Jazzercise, Inc., is reporting all-time high revenues. The privately held company today released 2003 numbers that show an 8 percent increase over last year, with $67.2 million in systemwide sales and gross revenues of nearly $19 million. The figures, taken from the fiscal year ending in June, mark the company's largest growth in annual sales in the last four years and fall amid a 24 percent industry-wide decline in aerobics participation during that same time period.

Jazzercise's success in 2003 is a far cry from its 1969 roots, when founder Judi Sheppard Missett first began teaching the dance-fitness class in a Chicago dance studio. Today's Jazzercise encompasses 10 class formats, an award-winning video and multimedia production division and a booming fitness apparel division. As it enters its 35th year, the company continues to expand, offering more than 20,000 burgeoning classes each week in 30 countries, and creating more demand for instructors, whose ranks also grew 6 percent in 2003, bringing the international total to 5,800.

Missett, who remains an integral part of all aspects of the business in addition to choreographing new routines and teaching at least three classes every week, attributes the continued growth to evolving without compromising the company's integrity.

"We always have one eye on the future and have worked to keep Jazzercise fresh with new choreography and the best fitness advancements," Missett says. "But our philosophy remains the same: to help our students and their communities understand the importance of fitness and health and to make exercise fun."

Jazzercise has grown consistently in the past five years, posting an average annual growth rate of 5.5 percent, and expectations for widespread growth during the 2004 fiscal year continue to guide Missett's strategy. She has expanded the company's reach to meet growing demand in younger and older market segments, recently placing increased emphasis on Simply•Lite, a low-impact Jazzercise format for seniors, and Junior Jazzercise, a fitness and education program tailored to 6- to 9-year-old kids. In addition, the company has started producing fitness videos again to meet demand from participants looking for a newer at-home alternative. The "Pure Jazzercise" and "Stretch By Jazzercise" DVDs led that reintroduction in 2002, while "Street Jazz!" a funk-based workout, and "Body Sculpt & Strength," are slated for release beginning in December 2003.

The company also plans to continue reaching participants through the events and programs that have proven successful for three decades. This year's Jazzerjam, a quadrennial convention that draws thousands of Jazzercisers from around the world, marked the first to sell out in the company's history, and Missett says she anticipates similar results for upcoming events. Next year's "Fitness Series 2004, " a line of 17 conventions, will be held in cities around the world ranging from Austin, Texas to Stavanger, Norway. The company says it anticipates strong participation, with the first two locations in England and Scotland already selling out.


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Jazzercise, created by Judi Sheppard Missett, is the world's leading dance-fitness program with more than 6,300 instructors teaching 20,000 classes weekly in the U.S. and around the globe. Since 1969, millions of people of all ages and fitness levels have reaped the benefits of this comprehensive program, designed to enhance cardiovascular endurance, strength, and flexibility. For more information, go to jazzercise.com or call 1(800)FIT-IS-IT.

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