Durrant Pate/Contributor

One-on-One Educational Services delivered a poor half-year performance, indicative of the tough times the digital education company is encountering.

For the six months ended February 29, 2024, the e-learning solutions provider saw a 27 per cent fall in revenues to J$111.37 million compared to J$153.45 million in the corresponding period last year. Revenues for the second quarter were slightly better with a 22 per cent fall off to close the period at $56.73 million compared to $72.59 million for 2023.

Direct cost amounted to J$31.83 million, up from J$26.76 million in 2023, representing a 19 per cent increase year-over-year. Consequently, gross profit declined by 37 per cent to J$79.54 million compared to J$126.68 million for the six months ended February 28, 2023. 

Other income went down 84 per cent to close at J$907,872 (2023: J$5.54 million), while administrative expenses increased by seven per cent, moving from $92.37 million in 2023 to $98.99 million for the period under review. Also, selling expenses for the half-year period amounted to J$13.46 million, a 24 per cent decline relative to J$17.72 million last year

Profitability in reverse 

Operating loss for the six months amounted to J$31.99 million, relative to the operating profit of J$22.13 million reported in 2023. Operating loss for the February quarter amounted to J$15.29 million (2023: Operating profit of J$8.27 million).

Finance costs totalled J$8.56 million a 259 per cent increase from the corresponding period last year. (2023: J$2.39 million). Taxation went down 62 per cent to reach J$890,671 (2023: J$2.33 million). 

As such, amounted to J$41.45 million relative to the net profit of J$17.41 million reported in 2023. For the second quarter, net loss was J$19.93 million compared to a net profit of $6.18 million in 2023.

Consequently, loss per share (LPS) for the half-year totalled J$0.02 reversing the earning per share (EPS) of J$0.01 made last year. Notably, One-on-One’s stock price closed the trading period on April 16, at a price of J$0.89.

Balance sheet highlights

The company’s assets totalled J$609.26 million (2023: J$634.86 million). There was a 37 per cent uptick in ‘Intangible assets’ to close at J$310.94 million (2023: J$227.55 million), while ‘Cash and Bank Balance’ declined by 65 per cent to J$64.90 million (2023: J$185.30 million).

Shareholder’s equity was J$362.63 million (2023: J$459.25 million), representing a book value per share of J$0.19 (2022: J$0.24).