30th Sep 2014 12:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - AEC Education PLC Tuesday said it expects to see further progress across all of its units during the next six months, as it posted a narrowed pretax loss in the half-year to the end of June.
The education consultancy firm posted a pretax loss of GBP96,000, narrowed from a loss of GBP555,000 a year before, as revenues declined to GBP4.3 million from GBP5.7 million, but this was offset by lower operating costs.
The company said its English language teaching operations in London continued to show a profit, and its new operation in Ireland saw revenue increased by 53%, offsetting the sluggish London market. Its operations in Singapore returned to profit, said the company.
In Malaysia, AEC's performance has been hit by a delay in renewing University partnerships, it said. In Oman its operations saw low revenues and sustained heavy loses relative to its size; the company said it has not increased its investment in the Oman venture. It is "actively seeking a solution to this drain on [its] results."
AEC is weighted towards the second-half, so it said its predicted return to profit is still on track.
AEC said that, notwithstanding the issues in its market opportunities in Singapore and London, it is encouraged by the improvement of its results compared to the previous year.
"Nonetheless, we expect the progress achieved to date to continue into the peak summer period and as we begin to implement strong growth plans in Europe," said Chairman Liam Swords in a statement.
Shares in AEC were trading 8.6% lower at 2.40 pence per share Tuesday afternoon.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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