Private schooling group Curro has reported profit growth of almost a third for its half year to end-June, boosted by pupil growth, higher fees and a “long overdue” one-off subsidy from the state.
Group revenue rose 15.5% to R2.06bn to end-June and profit 32% to R169m, with the group saying it had focused heavily on cost controls, while after two years of Covid-19, it was “delighted” that pupils once again experienced a stable academic environment.
Average learner numbers rose 6.6% to 70,519, which, along with annual fee increases, helped to lift tuition fees by 13.3%; fees account for most of its income.
Core profit from schools rose 17.7% to R599m, while Curro also reported a subsidy income of R25m from the provincial government, saying this was “long overdue”.
Founded in 1998, Curro is currently valued at R6.58bn on the JSE. Its model involves building schools starting with, for example, grade 8, then adding new facilities every year as those pupils move through the grade levels.
Its primary objective is now to increase the use of existing facilities, saying on Thursday that average pupils per campus had risen almost 5% to 916 relative to end-December, with the company also employing 3,909 teachers, up 9.2% from six months ago.
At the end of June the group had 77 campuses and 181 schools.
In morning trade Curro’s shares were unchanged at R11, having fallen 11.65% so far in 2022, but having risen by just more than a third over the past two years.
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