South African private school network’s student numbers drop

A R74 million impairment charge will see Curro’s earnings for the first half of its 2025 financial year decline by over 33%. The private education provider also saw its number of learners decline by around 1.4%

Curro was established in 1998 when Chris van der Merwe opened a small independent school with 28 learners in a church in Durbanville.

Van der Merwe later built the first physical Curro school with ten bricklayers and thirty labourers. This marked the start of a rapid growth curve and, by 2010, it had five campuses and about 3,000 enrolled learners.

This growth continued from year to year. Today, Curro has 178 schools across 82 campuses, with about 70,400 learners, including schools in Botswana and Namibia.

On Thursday, 21 August, Curro released a trading update for its performance in the six months ended 30 June 2025.

This update showed that the private education provider’s earnings will decline significantly compared to the first half of its 2024 financial year, with the following changes expected:

• Recurring headline earnings per share: between a decrease of 3.0% and an increase of 2.7%
• Headline earnings per share: between a decrease of 3.0% and an increase of 2.7%
• Earnings per share: decrease of between 39.3% and 33.6%

Curro attributed this decline in earnings to an impairment charge of R74 million, which was recognised as part of the required impairment assessment of land-banked properties acquired and held by Curro for future development.

“This adjustment reflects updated valuations and development assumptions for certain land parcels,” the company explained.

Curro further informed shareholders that its weighted average number of learners for the first half of 2025 was 71,749, down 1.4% compared to the first half of 2024.

However, positively, the private education provider said it expects to report a 10% increase in net cash generated from operating activities for the first six months of 2025.

In addition, the company repurchased and cancelled 10.8 million shares during the period for a consideration of R116 million.

“This share buyback underscores the company’s confidence in the group’s prospects and its commitment to enhancing shareholder returns,” it said.

“The group remains focused on generating cash flows ahead of capital expenditure requirements, ensuring a robust financial position to support its long-term strategy.”

Curro’s full results for the six months through June 2025 will be published on Wednesday, 27 August 2025.