Stadio to list in September

Curro Holdings intends to list its tertiary unit Stadio on the JSE in September.

For the six months ended June 30, Stadio’s revenue increased 26% to R24 million, but Ebitda fell 33% to R6 million and headline earnings to a loss of R3 million.

Curro announced it would unbundle Stadio in February.

But the prospect that shareholders and those who missed out buying into Curro at a bargain may have “a second bite at the cherry”, via Stadio, kept the group’s share price in check, said Anthony Clark of Vunani Securities.

Vestact’s Bright Khumalo said the stock came under pressure due to a combination of high expectations, a result of its high PE ratio of 99 and pressure on its lower-fee unit Meridian.

Meridian, exposed to the rural lower-fee market, reported a 4% increase in revenue to R136 million and a 275% jump in headline losses to R15 million, as pupil numbers fell 6% to 9 602.

“The surprise fall off in demand for lower- or low-end schooling, alongside a 120% jump in overall group bad debts, shows how much tougher domestic economic weakness really are,” Clark said.

Khumalo said the falling pupil numbers was reflective of mining’s poor performance – many of its schools are in mining towns.

Curro Schools continued to make good progress in the midto upper-end market, reporting a 28% increase in revenue to R915 million and a 64% increase in headline earnings to R128 million.