Business

Prominent South African company buying and opening new private schools

Luke Fraser

 ·25 Aug 2025

AdvTech continues to expand its private school and ‘university’ network across South Africa and the rest of Africa, as the group sees a solid rise in earnings.

JSE-listed AdvTech is one of the largest players in the private education space, and owns Crawford International, Pinnacle College, Varsity College and a host of other instiutions.

In its financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2025, AdvTech said that its Schools South Africa division saw Robust enrolment growth, with all brands seeing enrolment growth.

Overall revenue grew by 11% to R1.7 billion. Operating profit increased by 12% to R354 million, while operating margin improved to 20.6%. 

The group said that strong enrolment growth at Pinnacle College Raslouw has necessitated the accelerated build-out of the school. 

Pinnacle College Ridgeview also opened in Roodepoort in January and is performing in line with expectations. 

Looking at the rest of Africa, the group said that its existing brands in the rest of Africa continue to experience strong enrollment growth. 

Combined with the November 2024 acquisition of Flipper International School in Ethiopia, revenue increased by 31% to R281 million, and operating profit increased by 34% to R83 million. 

“Driven by continued strong demand, construction of the next phase of Crawford International School in Kenya will be completed at the end of August this year,” said the group. 

The international schools operating will also be expanded. Following the acquisition of Makini Schools, Regis Runda School in Nairobi, Kenya, for approximately R172 million, which will add 2,000 students. 

“The international and local management teams are driving improved academic outcomes with a focus on standardising student information systems and platforms.” 

“Our higher-priced Makini Cambridge International curriculum continues to experience strong demand, with parents increasingly choosing it over the Kenyan national syllabus.”

Overall, South African school student numbers increased by 4% to 34,093, while international student numbers increased by 40% to 11,580. 

‘University’ push 

Regarding the group’s tertiary education division, revenue increased by 13% to R1.2 billion, while operating profit increased by 14% to R496 million. 

The group said that the division continues to perform well and grow on the back of a well-established brand portfolio that offers a comprehensive range of programmes. 

In line with its strategy, the division is seeing strong enrolment growth in its distance offering.

The group added that our Rosebank College Cape Town mega campus has been relocated, whilst expansion projects for the Braamfontein and Polokwane campuses are underway.

In 2024, the group acquired a 47,000 sqm property off Grayston Drive in Sandton. The site is being used to develop a brand-new mega campus, with capacity for 9,000 students. 

It said that the development is in line with the group’s 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.

The group is also looking for its tertiary schools to be called Universities, which is currently reserved for state-owned institutions. 

“A draft Policy for the Recognition of South African Higher Education Institutional Types was released in September 2022, setting out the criteria to be recognised as a university,” the group said. 

“Following the submission of comments, a second draft was published in April 2024. We submitted our comments on the second draft in May 2024 and await the gazetting of the policy and criteria.” 

The group said that recognition as a university will benefit its students, who will be afforded the same status as their peers who obtain identically accredited qualifications through a Public University.

Looking internationally, Rosebank International University College (RIUC) in Accra, Ghana, was inaugurated in August 2025, with student registrations having commenced in preparation for the academic year in January. 

The new RIUC campus builds on ADvTECH’s existing international presence in Kenya, Botswana and Ethiopia.

The group’s total student numbers at its tertiary division increased by 14% to 60,067 over the period. 

Financials

When looking at the group’s financials, revenue increased by 10% to R4.7 billion. Operating profit before interest and non-trading items grew by 14% to R982 million. 

Earnings per share increased by 16% to 113.0 cents per share, while headline earnings per share increased by 15% to 112.7 cents. 

An interim dividend of 45.0 cents per share was declared, compared to the 38.0 cents per share dividend declared for the comparable period.