Private schools are booming in South Africa

South African private school networks have reported strong growth for the past financial year, with pupil numbers soaring and profits rising. 

The latest company to report on this trend is ADvTECH, which owns schools such as Crawford, Trinity House, and Abbots High School. 

In its latest annual results for the financial year ended 31 December, the company revealed it had broken through 100,000 enrolments for the first time in its history. 

ADvTECH’s revenue rose by 8% to R8.5 billion driven by a 13% increase in the contribution from its education division. Its resourcing division weighed on this growth, with its revenue declining by 8%. 

This strong performance flowed through to its bottom line, with the company’s operating profit rising by 13% to R1.79 billion. Profit after tax rose by over 15% to R1.1 billion. 

The operating margin in the education division improved to 24.2% through the benefit of operating leverage and our continued drive for efficiency gains.

This more than offset the additional costs incurred to strengthen our offering through the introduction of additional global benchmarking measures, artificial intelligence tools to support personalised learning and enhanced student information systems. 

ADvTECH’s strong performance was primarily a result of its continued growth in South Africa, with its local division contributing nearly half of its total revenue and the majority of its profit. 

Its enrollment in South Africa grew by over 10% to 45,000 students, with it having a capacity for an additional 10,000. 

However, there are indications that the education group may become capacity-constrained in the future, as it has to accelerate the buildout of its new Pinnacle College in Raslouw due to strong demand. 

It has also recently opened a separate Pinnacle College in Roodepoort at the beginning of the year, adding to its capacity in Gauteng. 

ADvTECH can pretty easily expand its capacity at short notice, with its ultimate capacity only at 71% usage. 

The company has also shown strong growth in Africa, expanding its footprint through the acquisition of Flipper International School in Ethiopia in the past financial year. 

This added five schools to the company’s capacity and over 3,000 students. ADvTECH’s African business now serves over 11,500 students in three countries. 

ADvTECH is currently expanding its Crawford in Nairobi in response to continued strong demand in Kenya. 

The company’s tertiary division continues to perform well and grow on the back of a well-established brand portfolio that offers a comprehensive and expanding range of programmes and qualifications.

In line with its strategy, the division is also achieving strong enrolment growth in its distance offering.  

The throughput rates improved to 80%, and on-time graduation completion rates were more than double that of public universities.  

The expansion of its Rosebank College sites in Braamfontein and Polokwane is currently underway. A new purpose-built campus for Vega Pretoria adjacent to Varsity College has also been completed. 

The group acquired a 47,000m2 property off Grayston Drive in Sandton during the year. This is being developed into a brand-new campus with an initial capacity of 9,000 students.

This acquisition is in line with its intention to become a fully fledged university. Varsity College Sandton and Vega Bordeaux will relocate to the site in time for the 2026 academic year. 

Rosebank College will launch its first international tertiary institution in Accra, Ghana, in September 2025. 

The company’s strong results come on the back of its competitor, Curro, also reporting strong growth in South Africa. 

At the beginning of March, Curro reported revenue growth of 8% year-on-year, with its profit skyrocketing by 203% to R97 million for the 2024 financial year. 

This significant increase was largely due to reduced impairment charges compared to the prior year. 

Curro currently has 72,638 learners on its roster and will open three new campuses in 2023 in Walvis Bay and Oshana in Namibia, as well as Barlow Park in Sandton. 

Curro’s outlook for 2025 is positive, with the company saying it remains optimistic that learner growth will improve.

“The business is resilient, and the group is committed to providing high-quality learning and teaching for all its learners,” it said. 

“Based on the learner achievements in 2024, Curro expects another exceptional school year in 2025.”