MARC HASENFUSS: Why Curro is still a class act
Curro has an enviable track record of acquiring smaller private schools and then ratcheting up profitability with cost cutting and expansion
The share price of Curro Holdings has been marked down in recent months, and is now at far less than the R57 record high registered at the end of 2015. This, of course, made the recent AGM a fairly intriguing affair. A key moment, for me, was when financial director Bernardt van der Linde addressed a question about the possibility of Curro paying a maiden dividend in the 2019 financial year. There was much diplomatic oohing and aahing, with shareholders being reminded that several factors would come into play when assessing whether part of Curro’s compelling cash flows could be earmarked for them. The key consideration, of course, is acquisitions. As reported in Business Day last week, Curro could spend more than a quarter of its envisaged R2.2bn capital expenditure for acquisitions this financial year on a handful of targets. In other words, Curro will continue looking at smaller opportunities rather than tilting at one of the large school groups. CEO Andries Greyling did jokingly ...
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