Private tertiary education provider, Stadio Higher Education, on Monday (15 March) reported a 10% jump in enrolments to 35,031 students for the period ended December 2020.<\/p>\n
Over the same period, distance learning students grew by 12% to 28,664 students (2019: 25,672), and contact learning students grew by 3% to 6,367 students (2019: 6,197).<\/p>\n
Stadio Holdings was spun out of Curro in 2017, and owns three higher education institutions, Stadio, Milpark and AFDA, offering a diverse range of programmes including undergraduate, and post-graduate programmes.<\/p>\n
Core headline earnings increased by 33% from R88 million to R117 million with core headline earnings per share growing by 31% from 10.8 cents to 14.2 cents, it said. Revenue increased by 14% from R815 million to R933 million.<\/p>\n
Core headline earnings reflects headline earnings adjusted for certain items that may distort the financial results from year-to-year, giving shareholders a more consistent reflection of the underlying financial performance of the group.<\/p>\n
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined by 75% from R180 million to R46 million as a result of an accounting fair value loss adjustment relating to the acquisition of the CA Connect business, Stadio said.<\/p>\n
The consideration payable for the CA Connect acquisition is subject to the growth in EBITDA of the CA Connect business over a three-year period.<\/p>\n
Actual student enrolments for this business materially outperformed expected enrolments resulting in a higher-than-expected purchase consideration and thus a fair value adjustment to account for the increased purchase consideration due. Excluding the impact of the fair value adjustment, the adjusted EBITDA grew by 29% from R196 million to R253 million, Stadio said.<\/p>\n
Stadio chief executive Chris Vorster said the growth in student numbers is particularly pleasing given the extreme Covid-19 conditions during the year. \u201cWe were able to successfully complete the 2020 academic year on time with drop-out figures of 2.5% for contact learning and 6.1% for distance learning, the lowest since we started with operations in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cStadio is considered a leader in distance learning, which gained further traction during the year. Our focus this year will be to further develop infrastructure and systems for student support, particularly for distance learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, of great importance will be the enhancement of the employability of students and employment desirability. Progress in this regard is already evident from recent research by the group.”<\/p>\n
Vorster said that the group’s aim is firmly set on 56,000 students by 2026 and the blueprint for this is currently being developed.<\/p>\n