Education venture rewards Trematon

Investment company Trematon Capital is finding traction for its niche private education venture, Generation Schools. Interim results released on Monday showed Generation more than doubling turnover to R17.6m in the six months to end-February.

Investment company Trematon Capital is finding traction for its niche private education venture, Generation Schools.

Interim results released on Monday showed Generation more than doubling turnover to R17.6m in the six months to endFebruary. Generation also more than halved its profit before tax loss to less than R800,000 from R1.7m in the corresponding interim period in 2017.

Trematon reported that Generation now had six school sites — four operating schools and two sites under development.

Jevron Epstein, the executive in charge of Generation Schools, said the private schools business was on track to have 10 schools open by the end of the next financial year.

He said Trematon hoped to have 20 schools operational within five years.

Trematon disclosed that the number of pupils had increased to 833 from 500 at the end of August 2017.

Generation’s two largest schools are in Sunningdale and Hermanus in the Western Cape.

The company said the Sunningdale campus was complete and at full capacity with a substantial waiting list. The Hermanus campus was still under construction and operating at its present capacity.

Trematon said when complete, the Hermanus school would be able to accommodate 350 students.

Epstein said the Imhoff campus (near Kommetjie in Cape Town), which was under construction, would be the biggest Generation Schools campus with 660 students.

He stressed that Trematon wanted Generation to focus on campuses that could accommodate 350 to 500 pupils. He said the private education offering was priced below those of larger JSE-listed rivals Curro Holdings and Advtech.

Epstein noted that Generation, which is based on the Montessori education philosophy, had extended its primary and secondary offering into the tertiary sphere.

“We are now offering tertiary subjects on our campuses with a focus on internship. Our longterm goal is to develop 20 campuses and secure 5,000 jobs.”

Generation represents about 13% of Trematon’s R965m investment portfolio, which is mainly centred on propertybased ventures.