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McFIT “The Original” Launches International Franchising – One of Europe’s Most Recognized Fitness Brands Enters a New Era

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BERLIN, GERMANY – Newsaktuell – 22 January 2026 – McFIT, a cornerstone of the European fitness landscape since 1997, is entering a new chapter in its corporate development: for the first time, the successful gym concept will be offered as an international franchise. This move paves the way for McFIT’s global franchise growth in previously untapped markets without company-owned locations.

To date, McFIT has been active exclusively with over 230 company-owned gyms across Europe (Germany, Austria, and Italy). All studios have been leased, built, and fully operated by the company. This structure will remain unchanged in existing markets. At the same time, McFIT is now pursuing an international growth strategy that complements the successful franchise model of Gold’s Gym, which has been part of the RSG Group since 2020. Gold’s Gym currently operates 58 company-owned studios worldwide alongside 507 franchise gyms.

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“Over the past years, we have proven that we not only understand franchise systems, but can successfully scale them worldwide,” says Jörg Fockenberg, VP Strategy, Expansion & Franchise at the RSG Group.

“With the internationalization of McFIT as a franchise concept, we are taking the next logical step and opening our strongest European brand to new markets around the world.”

To make the McFIT concept globally accessible for franchise partners, the company developed a comprehensive package of professional franchise tools. These are designed to adapt flexibly to local conditions, ensure strong brand management and a consistent brand appearance, and provide partners with all necessary tools for smooth studio setup and daily operations. This is complemented by clearly defined processes and structures that support franchise partners from initial contact through well beyond contract signing.

“Our goal is to create a franchise system that offers partners maximum guidance, security, and efficiency – while fully leveraging McFIT’s unique brand strength,” explains Dr. Jobst Müller-Trimbusch, Co-CEO of the RSG Group. “We want to empower entrepreneurs worldwide to continue the success story of McFIT in their own countries.”

The McFIT franchise is exclusively aimed at countries in which the brand is not yet represented with company-owned gyms. This opens McFIT to a wide range of new markets and target groups. The primary focus is on recruiting master franchisees.

Further information is available at www.mcfit.com/franchise-en

Hashtag: #McFIT #TheOriginal

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About RSG Group

With more than 4.5 million members in its studios, RSG Group is one of the world’s leading companies in the fitness industry. Founded in 1996 by Rainer Schaller and still family-owned today, RSG Group has grown into an internationally operating company. Including its franchise partners, the group employs 10,000 people at over 900 locations and is represented in more than 30 countries. Its extensive and future-oriented portfolio includes brands such as McFIT, the JOHN REED family, and Gold’s Gym. RSG Group’s mission is to continuously set new standards and remain an essential part of its customers’ active lifestyles. For more information:

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4,680 young Chinese volunteers called “Little Deer” ready for Asian Beach Games

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SANYA, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 17 April 2026 – As the 6th Asian Beach Games draws near, 4,680 youth volunteers, affectionately known as the “Little Deer” (Xiao Lu Lu), have completed their general training and are now intensively honing their foreign language skills and job-specific practical abilities in final preparation for the event.

4,680 young Chinese volunteers ready for Asian Beach Games.

Recruited from 12 universities, including Hainan University and Hainan Normal University, as well as other local organizations, the volunteers share the common nickname “Little Deer.” The name is derived from Sanya’s nickname, “Deer City,” and is meant to reflect the volunteers’ lively, warm, and friendly spirit.

“See ya in Sanya” is both the slogan of the Asian Beach Games and the guiding principle for its volunteers. Liang Zihan, a student from Hainan Tropical Ocean University, said: “Since the launch of the volunteer recruitment drive, whether it is learning about the Games, mastering multilingual communication, or taking part in scenario-based drills and emergency exercises, I have given it my all. I hope to convey Sanya’s warmth, openness, and inclusiveness to every friend who comes from afar.”

Alongside local students, the volunteer team also includes many young people from across China brought together by the Games. Wu Yujia, a sophomore at the Hospitality Institute of Sanya, is one of them. “I want to show a warm, caring, and energetic Sanya,” she said. When asked about her future plans, she did not hesitate: “I want to stay in Sanya.” In her eyes, the city’s pleasant climate and beautiful scenery have deepened her affection for it and strengthened her commitment to volunteering.

The 6th Asian Beach Games will be held in Sanya, Hainan, from April 22 to 30, 2026. Delegations from all 45 member countries and regions of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) will take part in what is the largest and most influential beach sports event in Asia. As the first major international sporting event to be held in Hainan after the independent customs operations of the Hainan Free Trade Port, the Games are not only a celebration of Asian sport but also an important opportunity for Hainan to present an open and welcoming face to the world.

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SERES’ Clifford Kang Highlights AI-Enabled Smart Mobility at the 2026 World Internet Conference Asia-Pacific Summit

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HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 17 April 2026 – Clifford Kang, Vice President of SERES Group attended the 2026 World Internet Conference (WIC) Asia-Pacific Summit in Hong Kong from 13 to 14 April, where he shared the company’s latest perspectives on how artificial intelligence is redefining intelligent electric mobility and automotive industry, and driving a broader transformation of the daily life.

The summit, hosted by the World Internet Conference and organised by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, brought together global industry leaders to explore developments in digital and intelligent transformation.

Against this backdrop, Kang noted that artificial intelligence is accelerating a fundamental shift across industries, with mobility among the most significantly transformed sectors. AI is moving from merely functional to truly frictionless, becoming deeply embedded in every part of our lives and emerging as an inclusive force that enhances mobility, living and consumption experiences.

As this transformation accelerates, SERES continues to embed intelligence across its full value chain, from product development to manufacturing and user services, using continuous innovation to enhance user experience and strengthen its long-term competitiveness as a technology-driven new energy vehicle company.

A key milestone of SERES came in 2021, when SERES entered a cross-industry partnership with Huawei to launch the AITO brand, its premium new energy vehicle brand. At the time, the industry was facing a clear disconnect, where intelligent cars were not luxurious, while luxury cars were not intelligent. In response, AITO introduced the brand philosophy of “Intelligence Redefining Luxury”, positioning intelligence as the foundation of its premium mobility experience. The brand name itself, derived from “adding intelligence to auto”, reflects this core DNA.

Today, that strategy has translated into scale and adoption. AITO has built a user base of more than 880,000 active users of its smart driving assistance system, with total journeys surpassing 6.6 billion kilometres.

Clifford Kang further emphasised that a great product alone is not enough, and that company need to focus on the entire lifecycle user experience. Guided by this principle, SERES has extended intelligent technologies at scale across both manufacturing and customer service to improve every touchpoint.

In manufacturing, the SERES Super Factory, operates with more than 5,000 robots, enabling 100% automation of critical processes. AI vision inspection technology ensures strict quality control of key components, ensuring high quality standards across production.

On the customer service end, SERES has built a 24/7 cloud-based safety service system powered by AI and big data, enabling a shift from reactive support to intelligent predictive service. In 2025 alone, the system delivered approximately 250,000 proactive alerts to customers. One notable example came in July last year, when AITO M9 completed the industry’s first satellite-enabled rescue operation in a remote region of China, highlighting both the practical value and human warmth of intelligent connected technologies in real-world scenarios.

Looking ahead, Clifford Kang stated that new energy vehicles are evolving into the mobile intelligent space, requiring further robust investment in research and development. In 2025 alone, SERES invested RMB 12.5 billion in R&D, representing a 77% year-on-year increase. This investment has enabled the company to develop a suite of core technologies, including the SERES MF Platform, Super Range Extender and Intelligent Safety systems. These innovations are continuously applied across SERES’ products to enhance performance and deliver better mobility experiences for users.

“Bringing eruptive technology from the laboratory to the road requires more than one company’s efforts”, Kang said. “Open collaboration is the most efficient path forward. SERES has always embraced openness and partnership. We want to work with industry partners around the world to advance the mobility sector together. Let’s build up the future where technology has the vision to lead, the precision to excel, and the warmth to care.”

Hashtag: #SERESGroup

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About Seres Group

Seres Group is one of China’s leading luxury new energy vehicle companies. Its premium brand AITO has surpassed one million cumulative users. In 2025 AITO became the best-selling Chinese luxury car brand in the domestic market. With strong capabilities in areas such as intelligent driving, SERES is bringing its vision of “Intelligence Redefining Luxury” to global markets and delivering a smarter mobility experience to more users around the world.

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Taicang Day in Munich: Celebrating 18 Years of Sino-German Industrial Innovation

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MUNICH, GERMANY –

The event featured a distinguished lineup of speakers who shared their insights on deepening cooperation. Gudrun Weidmann, Director for Internationalization at the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs; Zhai Qian, Minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Germany; Chen Xiaodong, Deputy Director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Commerce; Dr. Christian Scharpf, Deputy Mayor of Munich and Head of the Department of Labor and Economic Affairs, and Michaela Schenk, Chair of the Foreign Trade Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria, delivered opening remarks. The proceedings were moderated by Stefan Geiger, Chairman of the China-Western Bavaria Business and Cultural Association.

18th Taicang Day in Munich
18th Taicang Day in Munich

Chen Gao, Secretary of the CPC Taicang Municipal Committee, delivered a keynote address titled “Green, Innovation, and Integration: Establishing a Model for Sino-German Cooperation.” In his speech, Chen drew a poetic parallel between Munich and Taicang’s home region of Suzhou, describing both as paragons of the perfect fusion between tradition and modernity where cutting-edge technology and modern industry coexist harmoniously with rich cultural heritage.

Reflecting on 33 years of deep engagement with Germany, Chen emphasized that Taicang’s bilateral cooperation has reached a historic turning point, transitioning from merely attracting foreign capital to fostering two-way investment, and from industrial supply-chain support to the co-creation of a complete industrial ecosystem. The Secretary highlighted three flagship Taicang projects recently included in the official achievement list of the high-level Sino-German summit—the Schaeffler Humanoid Robot Digital Factory, the Sino-German Taicang Zero-Carbon Park, and the Taicang Rhine-Neckar Innovation Center. These milestones vividly demonstrate Taicang’s momentum in pivoting toward green transformation, collaborative innovation, and deep bilateral integration. Taicang’s strategy remains built on the philosophy of long-termism, with Chen reaffirming the city’s dedication to optimizing a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment while reinforcing its brand identity as a “home away from home” for German community.

Following these addresses, the event yielded several milestone agreements aimed at facilitating practical cooperation, including the official inauguration of the VDE China representative office in Taicang and the signing of a new batch of German scientific innovation projects. To further support the internationalization of local firms, the Taicang Enterprise Overseas Service Center was officially unveiled, alongside a dedicated matchmaking session for Chinese companies expanding into global markets. Furthermore, State Grid Taicang Power Supply Company presented its latest initiatives in Green Compliance and Environmental Sustainability, a presentation that received widespread acclaim for aligning industrial power solutions with international ESG standards.

Taicang’s strategic appeal is rooted in its premier location adjacent to Shanghai and its world-class infrastructure. Situated within a 30-minute commuting radius of central Shanghai, the city offers rapid access to Hongqiao Airport in 20 minutes and Pudong International Airport in just over an hour. Its maritime gateway, the Port of Taicang, features a 12.5-meter deep-water channel and ranks 8th in China and 20th globally, with an annual throughput exceeding 10 million TEUs. This logistics network supports a robust industrial ecosystem of over 5,000 enterprises, where 70% of vehicle components can be sourced locally.

Widely recognized as the “Home of German Enterprises” in China, Taicang now hosts over 560 German firms, including 60 “hidden champion” companies. This specialized cluster represents more than 10% of all German manufacturing enterprises in China. The city’s collaborative success is further evidenced by projects mentioned above in Chen Gao’s speech such as the Schaeffler Humanoid Robot Digital Factory and the Sino-German Taicang Zero-Carbon Park, and the Taicang Rhine-Neckar Innovation Center, all of which were included in the official achievement list of the German Chancellor’s visit to China.

To support its growing international community, Taicang has developed a sophisticated service ecosystem. The city’s Foreigner Service Center integrates 73 specialized services, supported by the “Hi Taicang” card which provides foreign residents with enhanced convenience in healthcare, education, and transportation. Complemented by cultural landmarks like the Rothenburg-themed street and authentic German bakeries, Taicang has created an environment where international partners can truly root themselves for long-term success.
Hashtag: #TIZ

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