Second quarter (October - December 2024)
- Net sales increased by 13.4 percent and amounted to SEK 5,025 million (4,433). Organic growth, including bolt-on acquisitions, was 6.6 percent.
- Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to SEK 402 million (305).
- Adjusted operating profit, adjusted for items affecting comparability and effects of IFRS 16, amounted to SEK 280 million (204). Items affecting comparability amounted to SEK 2 million (0).
- Profit for the period amounted to SEK 179 million (106).
- Diluted earnings per share was SEK 1.76 (1.01). Adjusted for IFRS 16, diluted earnings per share was SEK 2.06 (1.23).
- The average number of children and students in preschool, compulsory school, and upper secondary school during the second quarter was 110,744 (101,292), representing an increase of 9.3 percent.
First six months (July - December 2024)
- Net sales increased by 12.8 percent to SEK 8,867 million (7,863). Organic growth, including bolt-on acquisitions, was 6.4 percent.
- Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to SEK 674 million (536).
- Adjusted operating profit, adjusted for items affecting comparability and effects of IFRS 16, amounted to SEK 436 million (355). Items affecting comparability amounted to SEK 2 million (-6).
- Profit for the period amounted to SEK 259 million (168).
- Diluted earnings per share was SEK 2.55 (1.60). Adjusted for IFRS 16, diluted earnings per share was SEK 3.15 (2.10).
- The average number of children and students in preschool, compulsory school, and upper secondary school during the first six months was 110,013 (101,022), representing an increase of 8.9 percent.
The complete report will be made available at
https://academedia.se/en/about-us/investors/reports-and-presentations/
Comments from CEO Marcus Strömberg
After the unimaginable - being there for each other
On 4 February, a tragic school shooting took place in Örebro, Sweden, resulting in the loss of several lives. We are all in shock and grief. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.
Make sure you meet, talk, grieve, offer security and hope. There will be a time for reflection, but for now the most important thing is that we are there for each other. Talk to your children, if they want to, about what has happened. There are many good books, adapted for children, that can be helpful at difficult times like this.
In times of grief and fear, it is important that we stick together and show that we care about each other.
***
Operations in the second quarter showed continued good growth, with AcadeMedia's investments and initiatives bearing fruit. Sales rose 13.4 percent and the number of children and students by 9.3 percent. In Germany, the demand for preschool places remains high and at the same time higher school voucher levels help to drive the improved profitability. The Adult Education Segment shows higher volumes and strong profit and margin growth, driven by higher volumes and better capacity utilisation. AcadeMedia continues to invest heavily in quality, for example, early reading and maths initiatives.
Swedish schools score well in international survey
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) indicates that Swedish schools perform well in international comparisons. TIMSS examines knowledge and attitudes of students at the fourth and eighth grades towards mathematics and science. According to the 2023 study, Swedish students, from both native and non-native backgrounds, improved their Maths results significantly between 2019 and 2023. Eight grade students in Sweden are performing close to the peak levels of 1995 in mathematics and are on average the best in the world outside East Asia.
This is great recognition and encouragement to all teachers. Despite the problems that remain, Swedish schools rank among the best in the world. TIMSS 2023 also indicates that the well-being of teachers in Sweden is significantly higher than for teachers in many other countries.
The messages from TIMSS 2023 were not exclusively positive. The study also reports continued challenges with integration and continued challenges at schools with a high proportion of foreign-born students. AcadeMedia schools have a high proportion of foreign-born students and our principals in areas of social exclusion emphasise the importance of safety at school and that language is the single most important key to success. Success in these areas are a crucial issue to Swedish schools.
Investing in quality producing good results
Cracking the code on how to read is crucial to succeeding at school. As a result, AcadeMedia invest heavily in early initiatives. We have built foyer libraries at our preschools in Sweden, a model that we are now also rolling out internationally. Working with our Norwegian organisation Sandvik, we launched a new version of physical ABC books that are specially designed to stimulate reading. We challenge children and parents through reading targets and have taken on national reading specialists in compulsory schools.
AcadeMedia's thirteenth quality report shows that high quality results, in terms of both goal attainment and parental satisfaction, are being maintained. We can report a stable trend of rising grade scores. Compulsory school results are significantly better than in other parts of the country. The equivalence between the grades set and the results of the national tests also continues to improve. We are often awarded good ratings from the Schools Inspectorate in inspections and quality reviews, here too beating the national average.
As unemployment rises, adult education makes a big difference
Unemployment in Sweden, already high, is expected to rise to 6.9 percent in 2025, with a downturn not expected until 2026. AcadeMedia's higher vocational education programmes are operating at full speed. High-capacity utilisation and continued development of proprietary online platform have improved quality and efficiency in more operations.
In January 2025, the Swedish Agency for Higher Vocational Education announced that AcadeMedia had been awarded 4,700 new educational places. The number of places allocated is lower than last year, but our programmes are on average longer than before. Overall, we defend our position as market leader, with a market share of approximately 20%.
Continued shortage of preschool places
The Financial Times recently carried an article on the German preschool sector. Under the headline "German childcare crisis leaves parents and businesses in lurch", the article describes the need for new preschool places as critical to Germany's development. AcadeMedia's operations in Germany have performed well and profitability has improved as remuneration is now recovering from the pandemic and inflation. In the spring, the 100th preschool will be inaugurated, and the plan is to continue to expand by around 10-15 units per year.
School voucher funding in 2025
The Swedish school voucher funding model is based on the right of all students to an equal education. The school voucher system is required to reflect changes in costs in society over time. The high rate of inflation we have seen for a few years has now slowed considerably, and this is reflected in lower rises in index-linked rents in Sweden, 1.6 percent (6.5) from January 2025.
Based on around 90 percent of the school voucher funding announcements for 2025, the provisional increase in school voucher funding is approximately 2.5 percent (4.4) in Swedish preschools, is approximately 3 percent (5.5) in compulsory schools and about 2.5 percent (3.8) in upper secondary schools. In Norway, school voucher funding is expected to increase by around 4.5 percent (5.5).
We are now kicking off 2025 with our annual Leaders' Forum where we meet with all our leaders. At AcadeMedia, local leadership is crucial and I would like to sincerely thank all our employees for all their dedicated work.
Marcus Strömberg
President and CEO
AcadeMedia AB (publ)
Presentation of the report
A web-cast telephone conference will be held at 09:30 CET today, where CEO Marcus Strömberg, and CFO Petter Sylvan will present the report.
To participate in the conference call please register via this link:
https://conference.inderes.com/teleconference/?id=5006126
After registration, you will be provided with telephone numbers and a conference ID to access the conference. You can ask questions verbally via the telephone conference.
To follow the presentation webcast on the following page:
https://academedia.events.inderes.com/academedia-q2-report-2025
The presentation material will be available before the conference begins on AcadeMedia web via:
https://academedia.se/om-oss/investerare/rapporter-och-presentationer/
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
Petter Sylvan, CFO
Telephone: +46 8 794 43 40
E-mail: petter.sylvan@academedia.se
About AcadeMedia
AcadeMedia creates opportunities for people to develop. The 21,000 employees at our 860 preschools, compulsory schools, upper secondary schools, and adult education centres share a common focus on quality and development. Our 209,000 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, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, Poland and UK. 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 and the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 08:00 CET February 6, 2025.
