Banele Ginindza
LISTED education group Curro Holdings is positive about meeting and perhaps exceeding its vision of 80 schools by 2020, the company said in its latest annual report.
Curro chief executive Chris van der Merwe said starting off the current year with 42 schools and accommodating 36 000 learners meant “that we have reached our pre-listing statement’s promise of 40 schools by 2020, five years ahead of our schedule.”
The group has a target of developing seven new schools per annum. At the time of listing, Curro stated its objective “by 2020, to have at least 40 schools with a total learner enrolment in excess of 45 000 and a profit after tax of more than R450 million.” However, Curro has yet to achieve the R450m profit goal as after tax profit achieved in the year to December 2014 was R51m, up 28 percent from R40m in the the previous year.
During the 2014 year, the company increased its revenues by 52 percent to R1 billion from R659m in 2013.
Aim exceeded
On July 15, 2015, Curro will be 17 years old and on June 2, 2015 it has celebrated its fourth year as a listed company.
“With regards to the number of schools, Curro has exceeded its pre-listing aim and reached 42 schools, five years ahead of target.
“Learner numbers will most likely exceed 45 000 in the next year or two,” Van der Merwe said. This translated to headline earnings per share of 280c based on 161 million shares in issue.
Curro reported headline earnings per share grew by 38 percent to 17.7c per share compared to 12.8c per share in 2013. The number of learners at Curro now stands at 36 021 and the number of schools have increased by 10 to 42.
On the academic performance front, Curro attained average pass rates of 99 percent with the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) and 90 percent with the National Senior Certificate.
Curro had 637 learners who wrote the IEB’s examination, 44 obtained A-averages, 171 obtained B-averages and 209 obtained C-averages. The pass rate was 99 percent and 82 percent of these learners passed with university exemption.
On a macro- and micro-level, Curro is managed with the aid of a 10-year plan. This has been the case from the inception of the company.
All existing schools are benchmarked to its individual 10-year plan. All potential new schools are assessed based on the estimated return on its 10-year plan.
Curro has been in the news for the past few months over racism claims at its Roodeplaat Campus in Pretoria East. The race row broke earlier this year after black parents signed a petition over separation of learners along racial lines in a class.
Head fired
The fire was fuelled when a video surfaced a few weeks ago showing learners on a field trip again being separated along racial lines.
The head of the campus has since been fired following an investigation by the Gauteng Department of Education.
According to its annual report, 66 percent of Curro learners are black while 34 percent are white. The company also reported an average learner to teacher ratio of 1:16.
Curro shares on the JSE yesterday ended unchanged at R34.50.