DURBAN - CURRO Holdings said yesterday that the demand for private school education was on the rise after reporting a 6 percent increase in learner numbers for the year to the end of December, despite the Covid-19 outbreak.
The independent education provider reported that its learner numbers increased to 60 777 students at the end of December, compared with 57 597 learners a year earlier.
Curro upped its learner numbers by 9 percent to 66 153 at its schools at the end of the last month compared with the same time last year.
Chief executive Andries Greyling said despite the challenging conditions due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and a period when learners were mostly educated remotely, average learner numbers rose to 60 777 at the end of the year.
“Educational excellence is now more sought after than ever before, and this is why we saw a further increase in registered learners to 66 153 in February 2021,” Greyling said.
The increase in learner numbers did not translate into a surge in earnings, as the group reported a 24 percent decline in recurring headline earnings per share to 38 cents a share.
Its revenue was up by 5 percent to R3.1 billion, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were marginally down by 1 percent to R686 million.
The board decided not to declare a dividend, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and the recently concluded rights offer.
“The board has resolved to not pay a dividend in respect of the year under review in order to preserve cash and to deliberately use capital to fund Curro’s further expansion and growth prospects.
“The declaration of a dividend is suspended for this year, and the board will re-evaluate Curro’s dividend policy at the end of this year,” the group said.
Curro raised R1.5bn through a rights offer in September to boost its balance sheet.
The group said it used a portion of the proceeds from its rights offer to repay R1.1bn of debt, which resulted in finance cost savings in the final quarter of the year.
However, Greyling said that, for the first quarter of last year, Curro traded above expectations in terms of learner numbers growth and fee collections before Covid-19 had a serious impact on its earnings.
“Revenue was impacted by lower ancillary school income, which was lower than in 2019, and an increase in discounts granted from 7.2 percent of revenue to 10.9 percent of gross revenue. This includes once-off Covid-19-related discounts amounting to R81m,” he said.
Looking ahead, Curro said its business model has proved resilient to date, underpinned by its robust offering and its strong financial position following the rights offer last year.
Curro rival Stadio Holdings this week reported double-digit growth in full-year earnings, boosted by a 10 percent increase in student numbers, while its peer AdvTech said it expected annual earnings growth despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Curro shares closed 2.46 percent higher at R10.40 on the JSE yesterday.
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