National Learning profit returns to pre-COVID level despite higher opex: Chairman

Khaled Al-Khudair, Chairman, NCLE

National Company for Learning and Education (NCLE) returned to pre-COVID-19 profit levels in the first quarter ended in November 2021, despite higher operating expenses (opex) on the launch of new modern complexes, Chairman Khaled Al-Khudair told Argaam in a telephone interview.

The company achieved target growth through opening a new educational campus of Tarbiyah Namouthajiyah Schools, Al-Arid district, which boosted student count in the current quarter.

The recently-operated educational campuses (Tarbiyah Namouthajiyah Schools in Al-Qairawan and Buraydah) witnessed an increase in the number of students.

Student count increased by 17% from 13,300 in the first quarter ended November 2020 to 15,500 in the three-month period ended November 2021.

Commenting on the performance of Al-Arid-based Tarbiyah Namouthajiyah Schools, Al-Khudair said the campus launch in the current academic year 2021/22 was a “great success”. The campus had an outstanding educational position, delivering SAR 4.4 million revenue and SAR 600,000 gross profit in the first quarter of this year.

Tilal Al-Doha Campus in Dhahran is under construction and will be opened, as previously announced, in the next academic year 2022/23. The company seeks to be a leading provider of global education in the Eastern Region.

Elsewhere, Al-Khudair said National Learning maintained the dividend distribution level despite the pandemic’s continuous impact and discounts on tuition fees in 2021. The company paid SAR 0.80 dividend in the fiscal year 2021, affirming its strong financial position. The planned dividend for the fiscal year 2022 will be announced, once approved.

NCLE reported a net profit after Zakat and tax of SAR 18.1 million for the first quarter ending Nov. 30, 2021, an increase of more than four-fold, from SAR 3.8 million in the year-earlier period.