AcadeMedia’s year-end report July 2021 – April 2022

Fourth quarter (April – June 2022)

• Net sales increased by 4.9 percent and amounted to SEK 3,851 million (3,672). Organic growth, including bolt-on acquisitions, was 3.7 percent.
• Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to SEK 337 million (330).
• Adjusted operating profit, adjusted for items affecting comparability and effects of IFRS 16, amounted to SEK 279 million (281), in line with the preliminary result published on 20 July 2022. Items affecting comparability amounted to SEK -14 million (-14).
• Net profit for the period amounted to SEK 164 million (181).
• Diluted earnings per share was SEK 1.55 (1.70). Adjusted for IFRS 16, diluted earnings per share was SEK 1.77 (1.90).
• The average number of children and students in preschool, compulsory school, and upper secondary school during the fourth quarter was 93,308 (90,032), an increase of 3.6 percent.
• After the end of the reporting period, Academedia has entered a new loan agreement.  

Full year (July 2021 – June 2022)

• Net sales increased by 7.5 percent to SEK 14,339 million (13,340). Organic growth, including bolt-on acquisitions, was 5.2 percent.
• Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to SEK 1,224 million (1,174).
• Operating profit, adjusted for items affecting comparability and effects of IFRS 16, amounted to SEK 1,001 million (939). Items affecting comparability amounted to SEK -64 million (-7).
• Net profit for the period amounted to SEK 605 million (599).
• Diluted earnings per share was SEK 5.72 (5.62). Adjusted for IFRS 16, diluted earnings per share was SEK 6.54 (6.52).
• The average number of children and students in preschool, compulsory school, and upper secondary school during year was 92,549 (87,823), representing an increase of 5.4 percent.
• The Board proposes dividend of 1.75 SEK (1.75) per share.

The complete report will be made available at

https://academedia.se/en/investors/reports-and-presentations/

Comments from CEO Marcus Strömberg

The 2021/22 financial year can be summarized as one of our strongest ever. The number of children and students in the school segments increased by 5.4 percent and net sales grew by 7.5 percent, even though the Adult Education Segment was affected by a return to more normal participant volumes. Organic sales growth during the year was just over 5 percent.

Operating profit in the fourth quarter remained stable and in line with last year despite lower participant volumes in the Adult Education Segment and lower profitability in our Norwegian preschool operations. Student numbers in the Compulsory and Upper Secondary School Segments continued to show good growth. After two years of the pandemic, over 100,000 parents and relatives of students at AcadeMedia schools were finally able to attend normal end-of-school celebrations. And never before have so many children and students celebrated this milestone with us. We are now summing up a year in which our business has developed well and the demand for our services has never been higher. 

Investment in new campuses and vocational education

AcadeMedia has a leading position in upper secondary education. Our extensive investment and focus on vocational training and the breadth of our educational profiles have created a high level of attractiveness. In August, we celebrated the opening of two new campuses in Stockholm with room for over 4,000 students in state-of-the-art facilities. This unique venture, in the SEK billion class, was made possible by AcadeMedia’s size.

Demand for places at our upper secondary schools remains high. With a strong and broad portfolio, we are well positioned to fill both our established and new upper secondary schools this autumn.

16 new units opened in Germany

The need and thus the demand for new preschool places in Germany is expected to remain high. During the year, we opened 16 new preschools, and decisions have been taken on 37 additional units, which will take us from the current 73 to 110 units within three years. Around 15 of these are planned for 2022/23. Decisions on further new establishments are taken on an ongoing basis.

We are also very pleased that during the quarter we added a fourth country, the Netherlands, to our map. Two preschools outside Rotterdam are the foundation for our continued expansion.

Economic cycles affect adult education

The strong demand for labour after the pandemic has affected adult education in the spring. Many students are gaining employment, which is positive, and we are now approaching normal participation levels in adult education. Our operations have adjusted to the new levels during the spring, and we expect demand to remain stable this autumn. Rising inflation and interest rates could lead to a recession, which in turn would increase demand for adult education. We have a leading position in higher vocational education and the demand for vocational training remains high. We anticipate continued allocation of national resources to vocational education.

A leading educator in game development 

After the end of the quarter, AcadeMedia entered into an agreement to acquire Futuregames, which is ranked as one of the best gaming education providers in the world. Together we will be the leading player in Sweden and probably the leading international player. With this acquisition, we have the opportunity for further international establishment, as Futuregames has a number of international initiatives. Creating different educational profiles with the foundation in our Swedish operations and then building on that internationally is one of the strategies that AcadeMedia is working on going forward. 

Our highest admissions figures to date

Preliminary numbers for autumn 2022 show an overall average growth in student numbers of approximately five percent for our three school segments to approximately 96,000 (91,431) children and students. More than 16,000 of these are in the first year of upper secondary school. We look forward to following them all through their schooling.

The independent school sector is larger than ever

There has been a heated debate in Sweden about independent schools in connection with this year's election campaign. The independent school sector has grown large and affects many people. The proposals presented for decision in Parliament have been voted down as they have lacked majority. Swedish independent schools have contributed and will continue to contribute to development and with resources to the Swedish school system. At the same time, we agree that a new independent school reform needs to be put in place. Over the years, we have put forward several proposals to reform and develop the independent school sector for the future. The proposals include ideas on school choice and school vouchers.

As we sum up one of our strongest years ever, we would like to express our gratitude to our staff and also to all the parents who place their trust in us to educate their children for a better future.

Marcus Strömberg
President and CEO 
AcadeMedia AB (publ) 

Presentation of the report

A web-cast telephone conference will be held at 09:30 CEST today, where CEO Marcus Strömberg and CFO Katarina Wilson will present the report.

To participate in the conference call, and thereby be able to ask questions, call one of the following numbers ten minutes before the start of the call:

SE: +46 8 505 583 75

UK: +44 33 3300 9031

US: +1 6467 2249 02

You can follow the presentation and the conference on the following page:

https://tv.streamfabriken.com/academedia-q4-2021-2022

The presentation material will be available before the conference begins on AcadeMedia web via:
https://academedia.se/en/investors/reports-and-presentations/

It will also be possible to access the recorded version of the webcast after it is finished on this page.

For more information, please contact:

Marcus Strömberg, CEO
Telephone: +46 8 794 4200
E-mail: marcus.stromberg@academedia.se

Katarina Wilson, CFO
Telephone: +46-8 794 42 91
E-mail: katarina.wilson@academedia.se

About AcadeMedia

AcadeMedia creates opportunities for people to develop. The 18,100 employees at our 680 preschools, compulsory schools, upper secondary schools and adult education centres share a common focus on quality and development. Our 188,000 children and students are provided with a high-quality education, giving them the best conditions to attain both learning objectives and their full potential as individuals. AcadeMedia is Northern Europe ́s largest education company, with locations/facilities/presence in Sweden, Norway and Germany. Our size gives us the capacity to be a robust, long term partner to the communities we serve. More information about AcadeMedia is available on www.academedia.se.

This information is information that AcadeMedia AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 08:00 CEST 30 August 2022.