Half Year 2026 Stadio Holdings Ltd Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Achieved pre-listing target of 56,000 students, with total student numbers up 10% to 56,171 and surpassing 59,000 in August.
- Revenue grew 13% to over ZAR1 billion, with normalized EBITDA up 31% and core headline earnings per share up 18%.
- Strong cash generation, with cash from operations up 13% and free cash flow increasing to ZAR332 million.
- Return on equity improved to 17.2%, on track to reach the 20% long-term goal.
- Successful launch of new Durbanville campus with 1,250 students (exceeding target) and AFDA Hatfield campus, driving 15% growth in contact learning student numbers.
- Maintained healthy EBITDA margin of 31.3% despite being a year of deliberate investment.
- Distance learning remains the market leader with 14% growth in new students, and the group is exploring a new blended learning model to tap into a lower-price-point market.
- Strong balance sheet with low debt (ZAR120 million, mostly repaid post-period) and significant debt capacity for future growth opportunities.
- Strategic investments in brand (Springboks sponsorship), technology, and infrastructure are expected to drive future growth and market expansion.
- Positive outlook with plans to reach 80,000 students by 2030, expand into new provinces, and pursue university status.
- High-price-point qualifications, particularly at AFDA, are under pressure due to the film industry crisis (e.g., Canal+ and Showmax closures), impacting student mix and revenue growth.
- Milpark Education's B2B business continues to decline, with corporates cutting formal education spending, affecting overall student growth (which would have been 14% without this impact).
- Consumer affordability pressures are leading to slower debt collections, especially for higher-price offerings, though loss allowance remains flat at 8.7%.
- The year of investment has increased operating expenses by 17%, with a one-off ZAR6 million loss from the Curro building acquisition, slightly pressuring margins.
- University status application remains uncertain due to lack of clear timelines from the Department, delaying potential branding and pricing benefits.
- The new blended learning offering is still in development, with potential cannibalization risks and unclear brand positioning, though it targets a different market.
- Capital expenditure is high at ZAR147 million for the half-year, with total planned CapEx of ZAR301 million for the year, which may pressure short-term cash flows.
- The film industry crisis at AFDA is seen as a temporary glitch, but recovery is not yet fully visible, and the brand may face continued headwinds.
- Student debt levels are rising, with the prior-year debt book growing by 5% (though slower than last year's 21%), indicating ongoing collection challenges.
- The group's growth strategy relies heavily on new initiatives (e.g., blended learning, new programs) that are yet to prove their scalability and profitability.
Here you go. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to STADIO Holdings interim results presentation for the period ended 30 June 2026. Today, we're going to do things a bit different than usual. We are coming live to you from our Durbanville campus here in the Western Cape and we are broadcasting from our architecture room at the campus. So to all those who are joining us in person, a special word of welcome to all of you, and welcome back to university.
Ladies and gentlemen, our presentation today, I will start us off with a brief introduction and setting the scene. Thereafter, I will hand over to our Group CFO, who is joining me with this presentation this morning, Mr. Kula. He will unpack the numbers for us in detail. And thereafter, I'll give everybody a blink into the future of STADIO and some of our plans for going forward.
After that, there would be a question-and-answer session. And then for the people joining us live here at the venue, some drinks and refreshments as well as a campus tour
| Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | |
| 30-Year Financial on one screen | |
| All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | |
| Customizable Stock Dashboard | |
| Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | |
| 8,000+ Institutional investors’ 13F holdings | |
| Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | |
| All data downloadable | |
| Quick customer support | |
| And much more... |
Trustpilot
We'd love to learn more about your experiences on GuruFocus.com and how we can improve!
Take Survey
