New R325 million private ‘university’ coming to South Africa
Private tertiary education provider STADIO is progressing with its new Durbanville campus in Cape Town amid a rise in total enrolments.
In its interim results for the year ended 30 June 2025, the group said that its semester 1 student enrolments increased by 8% to 51,197 students (June 2024: 47,024).
Student numbers as of August have also shown an improvement, rising by 8% to 54,487 from 50,486.
Distance learning student numbers saw overall growth of 9% to 44,179 (June 2024: 40,702).
However, the group’s distance learning student numbers continue to be impacted by the B2B legacy Milpark business, which shows muted student growth.
Excluding the legacy Milpark business, distance learning student number growth increased by 11%.
Contact learning student numbers saw 11% growth to 7,018 students (June 2024: 6,322).
Registrations of new contact learning students increased by 18%, driven by the expansion of new programmes to the various campuses.
In terms of expansion, the group said that the construction phase of the STADIO Durbanville campus is progressing as expected and remains on track to open before the 2026 academic year.
An additional R105 million was also approved by the board in the period, increasing the total cost of the project to R325 million to include an additional phase that was originally planned for much later.
The group predicts capital spend of R142 million for the second half of the year. As payments to the construction and fitout of the campus.
The remaining R85 million of R325 million is expected to be incurred in 2026. The group also used R53 million of a debt facility to construct the Durbanville campus.
The new campus plans to offer education, IT, law, media and design schools, commerce, architecture and engineering.
Financials
Looking at the group’s financials, revenue grew by 16% to R957 million, with EBITDA growing by 24% to R293 million (June 2024: R236 million).
Bad debts recovered improved to R8.5 million (June 2024: R5.7 million).
“The payment trends of distance learning students are generally over a longer period than for contact learning students and, given the growth in distance learning across the group, this has impacted the overall value of the debtors’ book.”
“The loss allowance, therefore, considers the associated potential risks in collections due to the longer payment trends and has increased in line with the increase in the debtors’ book.”
The group still reported a profit after taxation of R183 million. Earnings per share increased to 20.8 cents (June 2024:16.3). Headline earnings per share increased by 20.7 cents(June 2024: 16.2).
The group said that the earnings growth was mainly due to organic growth in the underlying institutions, lower operating and employee costs, and lower increases in depreciation.
The board has adopted a policy of paying dividends annually on excess free cash flow, considering the capital needs for future growth projects, meaning there was
| Metric | Previous Value | Current Value | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | R826 million | R957 million | 16% |
| Student numbers (Semester 1) | 47,024 | 51,197 | 9% |
| Student numbers (August) | 50,486 (2024) | 54,487 (2025) | 8%* |
| EBITDA | R236 million | R293 million | 24% |
| Core headline earnings** | R137 million | R176 million | 28% |
| Earnings per share (EPS) | 16.3 cps | 20.8 cps | 28% |
| Headline earnings per share (HEPS) | 16.2 cps | 20.7 cps | 28% |
| Core headline earnings per share (Core HEPS) | 16.2 cps | 20.7 cps | 28% |
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