COMPANY COMMENT
Tough call to find the best value in schools sector
The share prices of private education groups Advtech and Curro were both under pressure on Tuesday. It seems the release on Tuesday of underwhelming profit growth numbers by Curro for the year to end-December has put a lid on euphoric sentiment for the private education sector. All eyes will now be on the soon-to-be-released report card for Advtech, which reported some strain in its schools division at the interim period to end-June 2017. While private schooling — especially offerings tailored for affordability — remains a lucrative niche, heady growth expectations are fast being tempered by tough economic conditions. While Advtech and Curro have muscular balance sheets and (fairly) easy access to capital to roll out their respective expansion plans, it is worth noting that small private education player Pembury was scolded by the market. After listing at 100c about a year ago, Pembury (which has now diversified into retirement homes) has seen its shares whacked down to 38c. Of cour...
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