ADvTECH Limited (JSE: ADH) reported revenue of R5 059.6 million for the six months to 30 June 2026, up 8% from R4 683.0 million, and declared an interim dividend of 53.0 cents per ordinary share against 45.0 cents a year earlier. Operating profit before interest and non-trading items rose 14% to R1 114.8 million from R982.2 million, lifting the group operating margin to 22.0% from 21.0%.
Normalised earnings reached R717 million against R620 million, with normalised earnings per share up 16% to 130.8 cents from 113.0 cents. Headline earnings per share also rose 16%, to 130.8 cents from 112.7 cents, while basic earnings per share rose 15% to 129.4 cents from 113.0 cents. The company had flagged the range on 11 August 2026 in a voluntary trading statement that put all three measures between 13% and 18% higher, or between 127.4 and 133.3 cents.
Two divisions moving in opposite directions
The 8% headline is an average of two very different results. Education revenue rose 13% to R4 403.8 million from R3 914.0 million. Resourcing revenue fell 15% to R655.8 million from R769.0 million. Within education, the tertiary business grew fastest, revenue up 17% to R2 242.7 million and operating profit up 19% to R591.7 million, with margin at 26.4% against 25.9%. South African schools grew 8% to R1 858.0 million with operating profit of R387.5 million and a margin of 20.9% against 20.6%. Schools in the rest of Africa grew 8% to R303.1 million, helped by the Regis Runda school in Nairobi acquired in September 2025, with the highest divisional margin in the group at 30.1%.
Resourcing operating profit fell 12% to R44.3 million from R50.2 million. The rest of Africa resourcing business, the larger part at R567.8 million against R672.3 million, is still absorbing the closure of the United States Agency for International Development in February 2025. In its 2025 interim report the group said around 10% of its client base, non-governmental and charity organisations that the business services, was affected when that funding was withdrawn. The South African resourcing business turned R88.0 million of revenue into R0.6 million of operating profit.
Chief executive Geoff Whyte said: “Healthy enrolment growth, moderate fee increases and a further improvement in debtor management”.
Receivables, cash and the balance sheet
The debtors’ book is where the margin story is most measurable. Gross trade receivables rose 5% against revenue growth of 8%. Loss allowances stood at R505 million against R488 million, representing 47% coverage of gross trade receivables compared with 48%. Credit losses fell to R115 million from R119 million.
Cash generated by operating activities rose 17% to R2 686.7 million from R2 302.6 million. Cash generated from operations before working capital was R1 412.9 million against R1 245.1 million, with a working capital movement of R1 273.8 million against R1 057.5 million. The group applied the money to a net repayment on loan facilities of R940 million, a share buyback of R250 million, capital expenditure of R403 million, finance costs of R105 million, dividends of R406 million and taxation of R333 million. Net borrowings excluding lease liabilities were R130 million at 30 June 2026 against R32 million a year earlier. Cash and cash equivalents closed at R475.4 million against R571.0 million. Net finance costs were flat at R97 million against R96 million, and the tax rate rose to 27.9% from 27.8% as more profit was earned outside South Africa.
Capital expenditure went mainly to adding capacity at existing sites, completing the Emeris and Vega campuses in Sandton and Nelson Mandela Bay, refurbishing Rosebank International in Braamfontein and moving the group support office. The Sandton campus, opened in February 2026, cost R420 million. A Durban campus is at development stage, with construction expected to start in 2027, phase one opening in 2029 for 8 000 students, and a second phase planned for 2035 taking capacity to 10 500.
The dividend
Interim dividend number 32 is 53.0 cents per ordinary share, declared from income reserves. At the South African dividend tax rate of 20%, shareholders who are not exempt receive 42.4 cents net. With 548 716 124 ordinary shares in issue the total payable is R290.8 million. The board approved it on Friday, 21 August 2026 and announced it with the results on Monday, 24 August. Last day to trade is Tuesday, 8 September, the shares trade ex-dividend from Wednesday, 9 September, the record date is Friday, 11 September and payment falls on Monday, 14 September. The board said it resolved to maintain annual dividend cover of 2.0 times.
Analysis: the group is now an education company with a resourcing remnant
Read against the segmental table, the transition is close to complete. Education contributed R4 403.8 million of R5 059.6 million of revenue and R1 070.5 million of R1 114.8 million of operating profit. Resourcing, which carries R25.8 million of the group’s R8 877.6 million of property, plant, equipment, technology systems and right-of-use assets, produced R44.3 million of operating profit. Resourcing revenue fell 15% while group revenue rose 8%, so its share of the group continues to decline, and the fall in resourcing operating profit, 12%, was smaller than the fall in its revenue.
One comparison the announcement does not set out is between the half-year cash figure and the prior full year. Cash generated by operating activities of R2 686.7 million for six months compares with R2 690.8 million for the whole of the twelve months to 31 December 2025. The difference is working capital: R1 273.8 million came in during this half against R120.9 million for the full prior year. Private education collects fees at the start of terms, so a June half-year captures inflows that reverse across the second half. The comparable measure across periods is cash generated from operations before working capital, R1 412.9 million for the half against R2 569.9 million for the full prior year, which removes the working capital timing effect.
The receivables disclosure is the most useful number in the release for judging the quality of the growth. Fee increases that outrun what families can pay show up first as slower collections, then as loss allowances. Gross receivables grew slower than revenue, coverage came down slightly and credit losses fell in absolute terms. Those three together are consistent with the enrolment-led growth the company describes rather than with price-led growth against a stretched customer base.
Two things the release does not settle. It does not quantify what university status would be worth. The group says it welcomed the policy for the recognition of institutional types and that Rosebank International and Emeris will both apply once the regulations setting out the process, timelines and criteria are published, but those regulations are still being drafted, so no timeline exists. And it does not break out the distance learning enrolments that management credits for tertiary growth, which is the line that would show whether the 17% is coming from campuses or from a lower-cost channel.
A careful reader would look next at the full-year segmental revenue for resourcing, to see whether the USAID effect has annualised out of the base, and at the second-half working capital reversal in the December cash flow statement.
