ADvTECH, which owns Trinityhouse and Crawford, yesterday posted robust interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2023, boosted by enrolments and moderate fee increases across all parts of the education division.
The private education group said headline earnings per share increased by 24% to 84.3 cents per share, while revenue increased by 16% to R3.9 billion. Operating profit before interest and non-trading items increased by 23% to R754m.
An interim dividend of 30c per share was declared compared to the 23c per share dividend declared for the comparable period.
The group achieved a 7% increase in the schools division, 6% growth in South African schools, 10% in the rest of Africa, and 4% in its tertiary.
ADvTECH CEO Roy Douglas said: “We think it’s a really strong set of results. I think the key underpinners are good enrolment growth and that’s translated into strong performance across the businesses and in every one of our divisions and our resourcing business, which has benefited from our expansion into the rest of Africa and different markets,” he said.
He said enrolments were a key measure of whether the company’s value proposition was meaningful to the consumer.
“And so we get good enrolment growth, and we are satisfied that our value proposition and the quality of our education and our brand proposition is strong. And we’re very comfortable with that and then you can see that translates into excellent financial results for us,” he said.
Douglas said while ADvTECH acknowledged that current economic conditions placed South African consumers under pressure, it believed that it was uniquely positioned to benefit from continued growth in demand for education in South Africa and particularly, in the rest of Africa where this pressure was less pronounced.
“This, together with the good enrolment growth achieved at the start of 2023 in both our schools and tertiary divisions, gives us confidence and an expectation that we will maintain our growth trajectory,” it said.
The group said despite the ongoing challenges of load shedding in South Africa, it had successfully implemented various measures to ensure that their ability to deliver high-quality education remains unaffected.
“Most of our sites have back-up generators, with diesel costs amounting to R9 million for the period. In addition, our business has a relatively low electricity usage and our costs in this regard remain contained. We also keep a close eye on our electricity usage and track it while constantly seeking out new opportunities to reduce consumption,” it said.
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