Improved financial outlook for edtech provider Janison after ICAS 2020 success exceeds expectations

SYDNEY, Dec. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Janison Education Group (ASX:JAN) has revised its financial outlook for the first half of FY21 following its successful delivery of the internationally recognised ICAS Assessment.

Total revenue for ICAS reached $4.8million, exceeding the Australian-based education technology provider's internal management estimates by $1.1million, with net cash receipts and EBTIDA of $2.3million.

Despite the impacts of COVID-19 forcing school closures across the country, Janison's online assessment platform successfully delivered more than 300,000 online ICAS 2020 exams between August and November to schoolchildren across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. It was the Sydney-based education technology leader's first full delivery of ICAS since the company acquired the schools competition business from UNSW Global in June.

The share price rose swiftly in response to the announcement of the news of the ICAS success on the ASX, soaring +25%; opening at 37.5c the next day and peaking at 53c in early morning trade the following day.

Janison's announcement also noted that satisfaction among ICAS customers – including 2,500 schools and 41,000 parents – had vastly improved on last year, with a 98% reduction in customer complaints. There was an overwhelming number of positive comments from teachers who felt that this year's online test delivery was significantly better than in previous years.

The significant success has led the company to update its financial outlook. Management expects group revenues for 1H FY21 to be at the high-end of the range $15m - $16m, representing a 40% growth on the prior corresponding period, 1H FY20.

Through improved pricing, targeted cost reduction programs in Cost of Sales, and now a stronger than expected ICAS 2020 result, Janison is predicting gross margins for the first 6 months of FY21 (1H FY21) to be above 50%.    

Stuart Halls, Janison's Chief Financial Officer, said: "We are extremely pleased with this year's ICAS result, not just in a financial sense but also in how successful the delivery was across so many schools in Australia, NZ and other parts of the world during such a difficult time.

"We now look ahead to growth next year when we plan to deliver the test across all subjects, in a schools' environment less interrupted by COVID, and with a richer set of ICAS questions developed natively for digital delivery."

For more information, visit janison.com.