TIDMMLVN
RNS Number : 6108D
Malvern International PLC
04 March 2022
4 March 2022
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it
forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with
the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
MALVERN INTERNATIONAL PLC
("Malvern", the "Company" or the "Group" )
Trading update
Opportunities to capitalise as travel reopens
Malvern International plc ("Malvern" or the "Company"), the
global learning and skills development partner, is today issuing an
update in respect of current trading and its year ended 31 December
2021 ( " FY21").
FY21
While the longer term industry fundamentals remain strong,
unsurprisingly the dynamic situation around international travel
throughout last year continued to affect the Company ' s
performance into the second half of 2021.
Revenues in the second half were as expected lower than the
first half and costs were higher as we chose to invest and further
strengthen our sales and marketing capability, with t wo sales
staff recruited in China and the development of our Mandarin
website hosted in China. China is the biggest student recruitment
market to the UK for Higher Education and English Language Teaching
("ELT"). Investment in this region fits with our strategic
goals.
As a result of these factors , the preliminary unaudited
assessment of the Group' s trading for the f ull year indicates
revenues of circa GBP2.4 million (FY20 GBP 1.9 million) and a loss
for the year of circa GBP1 million (FY20 GBP1.33 million) .
Unaudited Net debt as at 31 December was GBP5.8 million . The
Company is delighted to announce separately this morning the
successful renegotiation of its existing debt facility .
The number of ELT students across our sites in Manchester,
London and Brighton grew back to approximately 80% of 2019 levels
in Q4 2021. With fewer international students in 2021, we grew the
proportion of UK-based students through a concerted sales and
marketing effort, including upgrading our website; we will continue
to leverage this audience. Malvern Online Academy ("MOA") is
supporting students with supplementary and hybrid learning where
required.
In December 2021, all our schools were approved by the Kuwait
Cultural Office ( " KCO" ), adding to the long-term partnership
formed between our Manchester school and the KCO. As a result,
Kuwaiti sponsored students can be accepted in London, Brighton,
Manchester and on our London NCUK programme. The KCO, funded mainly
through the Kuwait Ministry of Education, supports on average 8,000
students per year across the UK. The language students typically
study for 36 weeks, and have provided our Manchester centre with a
consistent number of students and recurring income stream over the
last six years. With these approvals, we are looking to double the
number of KCO-sponsored students we recruit across the Group to
around 50 in the current year .
Current trading and outlook
There remains a clear back-log of demand for all our education
services as demonstrated by an uptick in ELT student numbers in the
first quarter of 2022, compared to the previous quarter. We
currently have 144 students enrolled in University Pathways
courses. Of these, 16 students are part of our first ever NCUK
cohort and we are looking to build on this for the next academic
year. Despite the traffic light system on international travel
extending into the autumn of 2021 which coincided with application
deadlines for key geographies, we still managed to enrol good
student numbers. Our overall January pathway intake was 80 students
compared with 43 last year.
Our pipeline of bookings for our ELT centres in London and
Manchester are the strongest since the start of the pandemic and
our expectation is to return to 2019 levels, exceeding this where
possible, with Brighton enjoying a successful full first year of
operations. Our biggest agents in the MENA region have indicated
they expect students to return in larger numbers after Ramadan,
late May. Therefore we are anticipating an influx of bookings from
mid-April.
Provisional bookings for juniors are up significantly as we
expect the Italian government funded INPS programmes to go ahead in
s ummer of 2022. We see the foundations being laid in 2022 for this
to be a major part of the business going forward. The Tempus
Hungarian scheme has been delayed to 2023.
As part of our recruitment strategy we have continued to build
our sales and marketing capability. In China - the biggest
international student market to the UK for Higher Education and
Junior summer camps - we have appointed two Regional Sales Managers
based in Chengdu and Beijing and launched a Chinese website. In
addition we have appointed a Sales Manager based in Indonesia and a
Regional Director for MENA and Turkey. We are also in late stages
of appointing an International recruitment advisor in India and one
in Nepal. Both are growth markets for Higher Education student
recruitment. We are expecting the new recruits to drive the growth
of a global partner network and in turn our student numbers across
Pathways and ELT adult and junior programmes.
Richard Mace, Chief Executive Officer, said: "January student
numbers and the Government announcement to remove testing for fully
vaccinated arrivals into the UK, provides us with confidence that
student numbers will return to pre-pandemic levels this year. Our
efforts to build our sales and marketing capabilities into key
territories, as well as strengthening existing partnerships with
embassies and key clients whilst maintaining tight control of
costs, will help support the growth of student numbers across all
our programmes. Malvern Juniors will return in the summer of 2022
with four centres currently running."
"The UK international student market has continued to
consolidate with fewer providers today than two years ago due to
M&A activity and closures. As a business, we are well
positioned to take advantage of the expected growth in overseas
student numbers over the coming years."
" These factors, combined with the separate announcement made
today regarding the successful restructure of our debt facility
with BOOST&CO. which releases valuable financial resources to
pursue our objectives this year, makes us extremely well placed to
build the business in 2022 and beyond. "
For further information please
contact:
Malvern International Plc www.malverninternational.com
Mark Elliott - Chairman Via our website
Richard Mace - Chief Executive
Officer
WH Ireland (NOMAD & Broker) www.whirelandcb.com
Mike Coe / Sarah Mather 0207 220 1666
Notes to Editors:
Malvern International is a learning and language skills
development partner, offering international students essential
academic and English language skills, cultural experiences and the
support they need to thrive in their academic studies, daily life
and career development.
University Pathways - on and off-campus university pathway
programmes helping students progress to a range of universities, as
well as in-sessional and pre-sessional courses.
Malvern House Schools - British Council accredited English
Language Training at English UK registered schools in London,
Brighton and Manchester.
Malvern Online Academy - British Council accredited online
school, offering supported tuition to students from around the
world in English language, higher education, and professional
education.
Juniors and summer camps - fully-immersive summer residential
English language camps and bespoke group programmes for 13 to 18
year olds.
For further investor information go to
www.malverninternational.com .
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