Tutoring provider Kip McGrath posts impressive post-pandemic returns

Tutoring provider Kip McGrath has posted strong returns for the financial year and is confident of emerging from the pandemic a stronger company.

Kip McGrath said it was ‘beginning to witness a shift as students specifically in Australia and New Zealand return to school post-lockdowns’.

Education provider Kip McGrath says it expects revenues to rise by 25 per cent compared to the last ­financial year as improved trading conditions push up profits.

The company, which operates tutoring centres across the country and online, said it expected revenues this financial year of between $24m and $24.4m.

In an ASX update on Wednesday, Kip McGrath said earnings were likely to rise 17 per cent from that recorded last year to end between $5.8m and $6.2m.

But the company said continued Covid-19 infections had affected tutoring, with increases in the rate of absenteeism. But it was “beginning to witness a shift as students specifically in Australia and New Zealand return to school post-lockdowns”.

On the back of a pivot towards online learning early on in the pandemic, Kip McGrath was able to stay relatively insulated from the education sector’s disruption.

The company’s chief executive, Storm McGrath, said it was now “in the process of launching new software across the business to assist with growth”.

“The tutoring landscape is evolving and we are increasingly working with government bodies to further develop our offerings, principally in the US with Tutorfly and through our key master franchisee in the Middle East,” Mr McGrath said.

In addition to online tutoring, the company said it was beginning to be buoyed by demand for in-person lessons in the UK returning to pre-pandemic levels.

“The company views the return of demand in the UK as an effective signal of expected timing for Australasian demand to return to normalised levels,” Mr McGrath said.

Kip McGrath was selected as one of four firms to benefit from the NSW government’s $337m Intensive Learning Support Program last year. The program aimed to make up for any gaps in learning caused by the pandemic.

Originally published as Tutoring provider Kip McGrath posts impressive post-pandemic returns