• Strong underlying market trends with 11 % growth in total active students this quarter
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• Revenue down 1% to NOK 130.8 mill
o Migration to online studies for Sonans
o Late marketing launch of programmes at Bjørknes due to late approvals
• EBIT down 29% to NOK 32.3 mill
o Ramp-up costs related to new programmes at Bjørknes
o Short-term fixed campus cost structure for Sonans
• Sonans Utdanning
o Aligning operations to reflect online shift
• Oslo Nye Høyskole (Bjørknes Høyskole)
o New programmes well received and successfully launched
• Norwegian School of Technology (Ntech)
o Ramp-up plan established, awaiting final approval
The market for private education continued to be solid during the quarter and the autumn student intake reached an all-time high for Oslo Nye Høyskole. For Sonans Utdanning the student intake was mixed with a significant increase in students signing up for online classes and a decline in campus activity due to Covid-19 effects.
“It has been an eventful quarter where important measures have been taken to secure a strong performance going forward. The underlying market trends for our student offerings remain strong, and the total number of active students increased by 11 per cent compared to the third quarter 2020.
For Sonans Utdanning, short-term profitability will be weakened due to the significant shift to online studies. We have identified and initiated measures to align operations to this trend shift. These measures will be fully implemented by early 2022.
Bjørknes Høyskole has successfully launched 4 new bachelor programmes and further growth initiatives will be implemented. One important element in the growth strategy is to strengthen the brand identity and the entity will be renamed Oslo Nye Høyskole.
I am also very enthusiastic about our plans for Norwegian School of Technology. The market for IT studies continues to strengthen. All ramp-up plans are completed, and we are really looking forward to launching the school next year.”
Strengthening of the brand identity for both the Group and Bjørknes Høyskole.
Bjørknes Høyskole has been renamed Oslo Nye Høyskole (Oslo New University College), to better reflect the strategic direction for the school and that Bjørknes Høyskole could be confused with the name of a competitor. Sonans Holding will be rebranded to Lumi Gruppen (Lumi Group) to better reflect the Group’s multibranding strategy. The new name for Sonans Holding, and hence the Group, will be registered and effective from November 2021
Financial results
Total revenues declined by 1 per cent to NOK 130.8 million in Q3 2021, compared to NOK 131.8 million in Q3 2020. Revenue was positively impacted by a significant increase in the number of students at Oslo Nye Høyskole with NOK 5.9 million in higher sales for the quarter corresponding to 15 per cent growth. For Sonans Utdanning, migration to online continued in Q3 2021 and resulted in a net decline in revenue of 6.5 million corresponding to minus 7 per cent. Online sales have been strong in the quarter, but due to lower pricing and a different method for revenue recognition, lost campus sales have not been balanced out.
Total adjusted operating expenses (excluding bad debt) increased by 18 per cent to NOK 84.5 million in Q3 2021, compared to NOK 71.9 million in Q3 2020. The increase is driven by significant investment in Oslo Nye Høyskole to prepare for expected student growth as result of the new bachelor programmes launched. There were still some Covid-19 costs for Sonans Utdanning in combination with higher expenses as result of a new campus opening in Q3 2021.
Adjusted EBIT ended at NOK 32.3 million, a decrease of 29 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Strong market for private education
The market for private education continued to be solid during the quarter and the autumn student intake reached an all-time high for Oslo Nye Høyskole. For Sonans Utdanning the student intake was mixed.
The number of students that signed up for Sonans Utdanning’s courses in the autumn semester of 2021 showed a 3 per cent decline as of week 36, compared to last year. Students that signed up for online studies increased by a solid 37 per cent, while the number of campus students was down 16 per cent. The Company believes that the significant shift towards online is in part an effect from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Short term, Sonans Utdanning has a fixed cost base linked to the campus structure, while prices for private candidate courses are significantly lower for online than for campus courses. Consequently, Sonans Utdanning has initiated an extensive analysis of the decline in campus students. In addition, several operational measures have been initiated in response to the online shift.
Oslo Nye Høyskole experienced growth in the number of new students and the autumn student intake is at an all-time high. For the autumn semester of 2021, the school experienced a growth of 3 per cent in the number of signed contracts compared to last year as of week 36.
The growth in student intake for the multi-year programmes was especially high, with 206 more bachelor students compared to last year and 26 additional master students. The growth in bachelor students is especially strong considering a late launch of the programmes due to the timing of final approvals from the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT). For 2022 the student intake is expected to growth further.
The sales performance is a consequence of a continuous effort to improve sales & marketing practices by training counsellors and adopting automated dashboards and KPIs.
During the third quarter of 2021, solid progress has also been made in the establishment of the new school, NTech (Norwegian School of Technology), which is a practical IT vocational school. All ramp-up plans have been established and NTech is now awaiting accreditation from the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT). NTech has started to hire employees, secured premises and is in dialogue for collaboration with key industry participants. Sonans Holding will target a launch of the new school in 2022, most likely from the autumn semester.
Third quarter report and presentation material
Please see attached the third quarter interim report for further information. The quarterly report, presentation materials with key figures will also be available on the company’s website at
Reports and Presentations – Lumi Gruppen
Presentation and webcast
CEO Erik Brandt and CFO Martin Prytz will present the company’s results on Thursday November 4 at 09:00. The presentation will be held without physical participants on Teams and the presentation will be held in English and transferred via live webcast.
The link to the webcast will be available on the company’s website:
Reports and Presentations – Lumi Gruppen
or use this link for direct connection to the meeting:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3Ameeting_MTRiOTIyNWMtNTExMy00M2I5LTk2MDItOWVlN2VlNzk5ODVj%40thread.v2/0?context={"Tid"%3A"853e8b83-4054-4eb9-8b26-ec6513dd213d"%2C"Oid"%3A"66be86c3-29ed-4ffd-97a2-f638b5525146"%2C"IsBroadcastMeeting"%3Atrue}&btype=a&role=a
It will be possible to ask questions via the web.
Contact information
Martin Prytz,
CFO and Head of Investor Relations
E-mail: IR@sonans.no
Mobile: +47 480 14 078
About Sonans Holding
Sonans Holding is a leading Norwegian education provider founded in 1989. Today, Sonans Holding consists of two main divisions; Sonans Utdanning and Bjørknes Høyskole. Sonans Utdanning is the market leader in Norway within private candidate exam preparation courses, and Bjørknes Høyskole offers high quality bachelor’s degrees within health, social sciences, psychology and business and administration, both on campus and online. For more info, go to: www.sonansgruppen.no or visit out new website www.lumigruppen.no
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
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