25th Jun 2015 10:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - AEC Education PLC Thursday reported a narrowed pretax loss in 2014 as it cut down on operating costs, but it suffered a decline in revenue due to difficulties in the London and Singaporean markets.
The education consultancy firm said its pretax loss was cut to GBP1.1 million in 2014 from the GBP1.7 million loss made in 2013, as its cost-control strategies led to a reduction in operating costs. However, revenue fell 20% to GBP9 million from GBP11.3 million.
AEC said that business in Ireland demonstrated significant growth in sales and achieved a small operating profit, but was offset by a reduction in business in Singapore which lost its EduTrust certification scheme status, and also a downturn in trading in London due to immigration rules and the withdrawal of students' ability to support their costs by temporary work. It said it will continue to invest in Ireland to counteract this.
Meanwhile, business in Malaysia continued to recover lost ground following the Middle East crisis and returned a profit before amortisation of the Malvern brand, AEC said, while Cyprus returned a small loss due to a slowdown in revenue from Russia, its largest summer school market.
AEC also exited its operations in Oman in the year, earning GBP41,000 which will recover about one quarter of its original investment and advance given, it said.
"The London and Singaporean markets continue to be challenging, but the group implemented its strategy to centralise the European operations and to focus Singapore on the local market. This creates a new platform in Singapore from which we can build and helps to reduce costs in London. It is satisfying to see the continued growth in Ireland and the steady turnaround in Malaysia reflected in these accounts," Chairman Liam Swords said in a statement.
AEC said it will not pay a dividend for the year.
Shares in AEC were untraded on Thursday, last trading at 2.62 pence.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
AEC.L