Holmes Place is to step up its overseas expansion plan by raising capital expenditure on new clubs from £78m to £90m for this year alone. The health and fitness group will speed up roll out on the back of annual results that were slightly above analysts' expectations. In the year to 31 December, pre-tax profits rose 38 per cent to £14.2m, some £200,000 higher than the forecast. Holmes Place opened 13 clubs during the period, including five on the continent, bringing the portfolio to 54. Some 31 per cent of Holmes Place's 191,316 members are in continental Europe, and chief executive Allan Fisher, believes the club is on track to become the leading premium health club in the region: We are focusing our European expansion on two specific regions, Central Europe and the Iberian Peninsula and have established significant regional head offices in these regions that are capable of supporting our exciting roll out of clubs over the course of the next three years. Despite buoyant trading, the share price fell 8p yesterday to 296p. However, the current price is significantly higher than the December low of 194p.