RCS - Malvern Inter. PLC - Closure of Malvern House, Brighton

Malvern InternationalAnnouncement

03/10/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 4443O  Malvern International PLC  03 October 2023

REACH

3 October 2023

MALVERN INTERNATIONAL PLC

("Malvern", the "Company" or the "Group")

 

Closure of Malvern House, Brighton

The Board of Malvern International plc announces its decision to close the
Malvern House, Brighton English language training (ELT) school by the end of
the 2023. The decision has been made following a review of the viability of
the school, informed by current operations, overhead costs, projected student
numbers, financial performance and the further investment required for the
school to achieve profitability which it had yet to do.

Brighton Malvern opened in 2019, at a time when Brighton offered a more
affordable out-of-London ELT experience. The Covid-19 pandemic halted our
efforts to build student numbers quickly, and the centre's performance has
since been affected by increased competition and rising costs for student
accommodation in the city, making it a less attractive destination for our
target audience. The centre accounts for c.5% revenue and is expected to
deliver a loss of c. £100,000 for the year ended 31 December 2023.

The Kuwaiti Government is a key customer for this centre's growth prospects.
However it has recently indicated that it will be diverting sponsored students
to other cities including our Manchester centre. Furthermore, a break clause
in the lease agreement provides Malvern with the option to give notice or
extend for a further five years. As a result of this and the review, Malvern
has served the landlord notice on the property.

Mark Elliott, Chairman of Malvern, said: "This decision has not been made
lightly, but it was clear to the Board and the ELT Senior Leadership Team
following the review that we had two options: we either take this opportunity
to give notice to end the lease and close the business; or, commit to a
further five years developing the school. We calculated we would unlikely be
able to deliver the critical mass needed to make the business profitable
without significant further investment and sufficient visibility of student
take up.

The closure of the school will allow us to divert these resources into growing
our London and Manchester ELT centres, our Juniors division and our university
partnerships where we are seeing far better returns."

Malvern Brighton employs five full time staff. The school has had an average
of 35 full-time students at any one time this year; bookings will no longer be
taken with immediate effect.

 

 For further information please contact:
 Malvern International Plc                www.malverninternational.com (http://www.malverninternational.com/)
 Mark Elliott - Chairman                  Via our website
 Richard Mace - Chief Executive Officer

 

Notes to Editors:

 

Malvern International is a learning and language skills development partner,
offering international students essential academic and English language
skills, cultural experiences and the support they need to thrive in their
academic studies, daily life and career development.

University Pathways - on and off-campus university pathway programmes helping
students progress to a range of universities, as well as in-sessional and
pre-sessional courses.

Malvern House Schools - British Council accredited English Language Training
at English UK registered schools in London, Brighton and Manchester.

Juniors and summer camps - fully-immersive summer residential English language
camps and bespoke group programmes for 13 to 18 year olds.

For further investor information go to www.malverninternational.com
(http://www.malverninternational.com/)

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