Internationella Engelska Skolan to open a new school in Växjö

Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES) has signed a rental contract with Skanska for the construction of a new school in Växjö that is scheduled to open for the start of the 2022/23 academic year.

The school will be built in Telestadshöjden, a newly built neighbourhood just south of Växjö where Skanska and Växjö Municipality are developing a new residential area featuring numerous new apartments and detached and semi-detached houses. The school, which will be a compulsory school with two parallel classes for grades F–9, will accommodate approximately 600 students when fully developed. Provided all the necessary permits are obtained, the queue for IES Växjö will open on 1 February 2021.

Anna Sörelius Nordenborg, CEO of Internationella Engelska Skolan, comments: “We are proud to be part of Växjö’s focus on education in this new neighbourhood. The school will be built according to a high sustainability standard, which is important to our students and to us. We look forward to welcoming all students, regardless of their background, to our new school where, in a safe and orderly learning environment, they can be motivated to do their best.”

“A new, attractive residential area is being developed in Växjö, featuring several new homes and now also a new school. I’m pleased that we have a free school operator investing in Växjö and building a school in Telestadshöjden,” says Anna Tenje, Chair of the Municipal Board (Moderate Party), Växjö Municipality.

The aim is for the school to be environmentally certified in accordance with LEED. The contract is conditional on being granted a building permit and IES has already secured permission from the Swedish Schools Inspectorate.

For more information for the media and investors, please contact:

Emma Rheborg, Head of Communications and IR, IES
Telephone: +46 (0)768 511 540
E-mail: emma.rheborg@engelska.se

For parents requesting information about queues and admission, please contact

E-mail: info@engelska.se

Website: www.engelska.se

This information is such information that Internationella Engelska Skolan i Sverige Holdings II AB (publ) is obligated to publish in accordance with the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the above contact, on 4 March 2020 at 14:30 CET.

About Internationella Engelska Skolan

Internationella Engelska Skolan, IES, is one of the leading free school operators in Sweden with some 26,800 students at 37 schools. IES also owns seven bilingual schools in Spain with approximately 4,800 students.

IES Sweden conducts school operations from “förskoleklass” (grade F) up to the third and final year of upper secondary school (grade 12). Its main focus is grades 4-9, what is often called “middle school.” Within the compulsory school system in Sweden, IES is the leading independent operator, with 17 of the 20 largest free schools. The academic results of IES schools on the national tests in grade 9 are far above average in Sweden.

Internationella Engelska Skolan was founded in 1993 and is in its 27th year of operation. Throughout this period, its schools have been defined by the three core convictions of its founder, Mrs. Barbara Bergström:

• A safe and orderly environment, where teachers can teach and students learn.
• To command the English language – the key to the world.
• High academic expectations and aspirations.

Up to half of teaching is conducted in English by teachers whose native language is English. Over 900 teachers with qualified foreign teaching degrees are currently teaching in IES schools. They are mainly recruited from Canada, the USA, the UK and South Africa.

The IES student base is growing strongly. Over the past ten years, total operating income has increased by an average of 19% per year. In the most recent financial year 2018/19, which concluded on 30 June 2019, total operating income was MSEK 2,781.1, an increase of some 18% year on year. As of 31 December 2019, there were approximately 208,900 applications in the queue to secure a place in the Swedish schools for the current and forthcoming years.

Internationella Engelska Skolan has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap, with the ticker ENG, since 2016.

The largest (indirect) shareholders of IES are TA Associates of the US, which has close affiliations to leading universities and trusts in the US, Barbara Bergström, the founder of IES, and Paradigm Capital AG through different funds. At the end of December 2019, the ten largest shareholders also included Swedbank Robur fonder and AMF Försäkring & Fonder (owned jointly by LO, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise).