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Will Curro’s management changes buoy its share price?

Will Curro’s management changes buoy its share price?
Cobus Loubser, incoming chief executive officer at Curro. (Photo: Supplied)
Neesa Moodley
By Neesa Moodley
3 Nov 2022
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Curro, the largest private school operator in the country, is shaking up its board with the announcement of chief executive officer Andries Greyling’s resignation, effective January next year.

Andries Greyling has been with Curro for more than 15 years, moving up the ranks from chief financial officer (CFO) to chief operating officer and finally chief executive officer. 

He will be replaced by the current CFO, Cobus Loubser, who has been in that position since January 2021. 

Prior to that, Loubser was CFO at Holdsport, which owned Sportsman’s Warehouse and Outdoor Warehouse for 11 years. Loubser will continue as acting CFO until a replacement is found.

The group’s current executive for corporate services and company secretary, Mari Lategan, will take over as deputy CEO and be appointed as an executive director with effect from January.

Independent analyst for Small Talk Daily research, Anthony Clark, says he was on a site visit with all three parties earlier this week, and there was no indication that management change was coming. 

Cobus Loubser, incoming chief executive officer at Curro. (Photo: Supplied)





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“Greyling has moved to Arabella, which is quite a far daily schlep to the head office in Durbanville and… he inherited many problems when he took on the CEO role many years ago from an overly ambitious expansion drive from the previous management and the PSG-directed strategy. 

“We saw significant new schools put down and a rapid rise in debt, which necessitated another rights issue in August 2020 to raise R1.5-billion because the debt pile was unsustainable,” he says.

Clark adds that in the last few years, Greyling has “right-sized” and streamlined the overly ambitious growth strategy that was foisted upon him by the previous management and PSG. 

“He has cut costs, improved margins and school utilisation. And he had to adapt the school system to the Covid environment with its own dynamics. I think he has done that admirably, and his departure is quite saddening because he will not be around to glory in the earnings recovery and growth that I see in 2023 and 2024,” he notes.

Regarding Loubser, Clark says he has a strong grasp of Curro’s underlying financials. 

“Lategan is also an excellent choice as deputy CEO. She has an empathetic and strong understanding of the business; not just the numbers, but the 71,000 learners and the parents behind them who need a softer, gentler, empathetic touch,” he says.

Curro, with its high concentration in Gauteng (85 schools) and the Western Cape (34 schools), saw revenue soar from a modest R166-million in 2011 to just over R2-billion for the six months to June this year. 

However, the company’s share price has fallen 20% over the last three months and 32% over the last year, closing on Wednesday at R8.51. BM/DM

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