Malvern revenue rises as post-Covid recovery continues

Education services provider Malvern International reported a 27% improvement in revenue in its final results on Wednesday, to £2.42m.

The AIM-traded firm said its operating loss for the 12 months ended 31 December was broadly stable at £1.32m, compared to £1.33m a year earlier.

It put that down to “strong” cost control measures, coupled with increased investment in its sales and marketing team to ramp-up student recruitment efforts in key territories.

The loss for the year from continuing operations was £1.59m, narrowing from £1.66m year-on-year, resulting in a loss per share on continuing operations of 0.08p, compared to 0.23p for 2020.

Malvern said its total loss, including discontinued operations was £1.15m, narrowing from £2.14m.

At year-end on 31 December, the company’s cash position was £0.4m, and net debt totalled £5.85m, including £3.35m of lease liabilities.

“Student numbers were rebuilding throughout 2021, and by the fourth quarter we had reached 80% of pre-pandemic levels, although ongoing international travel restrictions impacted higher education starts for the 2021-2022 academic year,” said chief executive officer Richard Mace.

“We have made strong progress in building our sales and marketing team to target key territories such as China, and the Middle East and North Africa.

“All our language schools are now approved by the Kuwaiti Cultural Office, which presents a significant opportunity to attract a consistent number of students and recurring income streams.”

Mace noted that since the year ended, the firm had successfully renegotiated its £2.6m debt facility, which was now payable over six years up to 2028.

“We expect student numbers to reach pre-pandemic levels during this year and, with fewer international student providers today than two years ago due to merger and acquisition activity and closures, we believe we are well placed to build the business in 2022 and beyond.”