South African private school giant booming with new R420 million mega campus

South African private education giant ADvTECH has told shareholders that it expects its basic headline earnings to soar when it releases its full financial results on 23 March. 

The company, which owns Crawford and Emeris, expects its basic headline earnings per share to rise by between 14% and 19% for the year ended 31 December 2025. 

This is a strong performance by the company, which has invested heavily in expanding its footprint in South Africa in recent years. 

The expected financial performance is a continuation of the company’s strong first half of the year, where it reported revenue of R4.68 billion and operating profit of R982 million. 

ADvTECH is still heavily exposed to South Africa, with this division representing the vast majority of its revenue and profit. 

However, its Rest of Africa operations have grown significantly in recent years, as the company capitalises on faster economic growth elsewhere on the continent. 

ADvTECH has evolved significantly since the formation of the first company that would be absorbed into the conglomerate in 1909. 

Brian Buckham founded Advanced Systems Incorporated in 1978, which would later be called ADvTECH.

ADvTECH was listed on the JSE in 1987. In the following decade, it launched Varsity College and Crawford Schools and bought Rosebank College.

Today, ADvTECH is South Africa’s leading private education provider and a continental leader in education, training, skills development, and placement.

Its businesses include 24 brands in total and 17 education brands, encompassing over 153 education, training and recruitment sites across Africa.

It operates well-known schooling brands, including Crawford International, Trinity House and Abbotts College.

More recently, ADvTECH opened its new R420 million state-of-the-art mega campus in Sandton for its tertiary education division, now known as Emeris. 

Emeris encompasses Varsity College, Vega School, and MSA brands. Its new campus in Sandton will bring together its existing Varsity College Sandton and Vega Bordeaux operations. 

The opening of the campus also marks a significant expansion for Emeris’ capacity, growing from 4,500 to 9,000 students – the initial number of learners which will be at Emeris Sandton.

Eventually, the campus will be able to support up to 13,000 students, with facilities including a double-storey library and information centre, and a student experience hub with career and counselling services.

The development boasts a custom-designed indoor sports centre capable of hosting international events and innovation spaces, including IT labs, podcast studios and interactive mock classrooms.

CEO Geoff Whyte said this marks the beginning of a new era for higher education in South Africa, with public universities historically being the better option. 

“That era is ending. Emeris and Vega degrees are accredited to exactly the same standards as the public universities, and we offer our students a superior all-round experience,” he said. 

He added that once the government publishes the criteria, Emeris will apply for university status.