Double digit 2025 growth in both schools and tertiary divisions takes total enrolments above 100 000 students for the first time
24 March 2025: Commenting on the year ended 31 December 2024, ADvTECH CEO, Geoff Whyte said: “Healthy enrolment growth, moderate fee increases and a further improvement in margins contributed to ADvTECH delivering another strong set of results. In the year under review, we expanded operations in our home market and across the African continent whilst continuing to invest in superior technology to enhance teaching and learning.”
“In the current year, we are also pleased to report double digit enrolment growth in both our schools and tertiary divisions and that our education business has broken through 100 000 students for the first time.”
Group: Operational and financial performance
· Revenue up 8% to R8 521 million (2023: R7 860 million)
· Operating profit up 14% to R1 791 million (2023: R1 577 million)
· Operating margin improved to 21.0% (2023: 20.1%)
· Normalised earnings per share increased by 16% to 202.5 cents
Group revenue grew by 8% to R8 521 million (2023: R7 860 million), driven by a 13% increase in the education division and an 8% contraction in the resourcing division.
Group operating profit increased by 14% to R1 791 million (2023: R1 577 million) with the education division’s operating profit increasing by 15%. Whilst the resourcing division’s performance regressed, this had minimal impact on group profitability.
Group operating margin improved to 21.0% (2023: 20.1%).
Operating margin in the education division improved to 24.2% (2023: 23.8%) through the benefit of operating leverage and our continued drive for efficiency gains. This more than offset the additional costs incurred to strengthen our offering through the introduction of additional global benchmarking measures, artificial intelligence tools to support personalised learning and enhanced student information systems.
Normalised earnings for the year increased by 17% to R1 109 million (2023: R950 million) while normalised earnings per share increased by 16% to 202.5 cents (2023: 174.2 cents) per share.
The strong cash generating capacity of the group is demonstrated by cash generated from operating activities increasing by 16% to R2 250 million (2023: R1 941 million).
Capital expenditure of R982 million focused mainly on increasing capacity on existing sites to meet incremental demand (R328 million), the development of a new school (R64 million), acquiring new sites for future expansion (R238 million), procuring equipment to enrich the group’s teaching and learning through technology and enhancing business systems (R78 million) to facilitate efficiency improvements.
The Board is pleased to declare a final gross dividend of 63.0 cents (2023: 57.0 cents) per ordinary share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2024.
This brings the full year dividend to 101.0 (2023: 87.0) per share.
Divisions: Operational and financial performance
Schools South Africa
· Good enrolment growth and strong financial performance
Revenue increased by 11% to R3 120 million (2023: R2 810 million) with all brands having shown enrolment growth. This reflects the increasing appeal of ADvTECH’s strong portfolio of education brands as we continue to gain market share.
Operating profit increased by 12% to R640 million (2023: R570 million) with operating margin improving to 20.5% (2023: 20.3%), benefitting from scale leverage.
Academic performance improved across key metrics year-on-year. Our 2024 matric students achieved a 99.4% pass rate, 94.5% bachelor’s degree pass rate and 3 317 distinctions at an average of 2.1 distinctions per student.
Strong enrolment growth at Pinnacle College Raslouw has necessitated the accelerated build out of the school, which is currently under way. A new Pinnacle College campus also opened in Ridgeview, Roodepoort, in January 2025.
Schools in the rest of Africa
· Growing the group’s footprint
The group has expanded its footprint in Africa with the acquisition of Flipper International Schools (FIS) group in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, adding five schools and over 3 000 students. The division now serves over 11 500 students across three countries.
Our existing brands in the rest of Africa continued to experience strong enrolment growth which, together with the inclusion of the FIS group from November 2024, led to revenue increasing by 18% to R449 million (2023: R381 million). Operating profit increased by 28% to R146 million (2023: R114 million) and operating margin improved to 32.4% (2023: 30.0%).
Construction of the next phase of the Crawford International School in Nairobi, Kenya, will commence in the second quarter of 2025. This is in response to continued strong demand driven by their market leading offering.
Our higher priced Makini Cambridge International Curriculum continues to experience strong demand, with parents increasingly choosing it over the Kenyan national syllabus. This is having a positive impact on the overall financial performance of the schools.
Gaborone International School in Gaborone, Botswana, continues to perform well and deliver good academic results. The development to increase their capacity to 3 300 students and to refurbish the pre-primary school has been completed.
Tertiary/University division
· Growing demand for the group’s well-established brand portfolio
Revenue increased by 14% to R3 401 million (2023: R2 988 million) and operating profit increased by 15% to R903 million (2023: R787 million). Operating margin increased to 26.6% (2023: 26.3%) benefitting from operating leverage and efficiency gains, partially offset by investments to strengthen our brand propositions.
Our tertiary division continues to perform well and to grow on the back of a well-established brand portfolio that offers a comprehensive and expanding range of programmes and qualifications. In line with our strategy, the division is also achieving strong enrolment growth in its distance offering.
Our throughput rates improved to 80% (2023: 78%) and on-time graduation completion rates were more than double that of public universities.
The expansion of our Rosebank College sites in Braamfontein and Polokwane is currently under way. A new purpose-built campus has also been completed for Vega Pretoria adjacent to Varsity College.
During the year, we acquired a 47 000m2 property off Grayston Drive in Sandton. This is being developed into a brand-new campus with initial capacity for 9 000 students. This acquisition is in line with our intention to become a fully-fledged university. Varsity College Sandton and Vega Bordeaux will relocate to the site in time for the 2026 academic year.
Rosebank College will launch its first international tertiary institution in Accra, Ghana, in September 2025.
Resourcing division
· Improved profit and operating margin in rest of Africa
A lower number of placements, due to the challenging economic environment, led to revenue and operating profit declining in South Africa. In the rest of Africa, the replacement of low margin contracts with higher margin contracts led to a decline in revenue but an improvement in operating profit and margin.
Prospects
ADvTECH’s intent is to lead in every market segment in which we choose to operate and to become the employer of choice in the resourcing and education sectors. The group is uniquely positioned to enrich people’s lives through being the leader in teaching and learning across the African continent.
“ADvTECH’s sound balance sheet, strong cash generation, growing scale and expertise in Africa and our unrelenting focus on extending competitive advantage, position us well to maintain our growth trajectory and invest with confidence in areas of opportunity,” concluded Whyte.