Navitas profit takes hit
Education provider Navitas's full year profit has fallen 31 per cent after writedowns to its university division overshadowed stronger revenues.
Navitas made a net profit of $51.58 million for the 2013-14 financial year, down from $74.6 million a year ago.
The result was weighed down by $30.5 million in goodwill writedowns, mostly to its university programs division.
Just before market close Navitas shares were down 15 cents to $5.02 a share.
The company was trading as high as $7.75 a share at the start of June.
Navitas shares fell sharply earlier this month after Macquarie University announced it would end a partnership with the company from 2016.
But the universities division continued to grow despite the writedowns, helping to lift the company's full year revenue 20 per cent to $878 million.
The company's english programs division and its creative media education business SAE also recorded strong revenue growth during the year.
Chief executive Rod Jones said the company expected further growth across all three divisions and expects to lift underlying earnings to between $162 and $172 million for the 2014/15 financial year.
"Navitas broader growth strategies across university programs, SAE and professional and english programs are progressing as planned and will continue to deliver value for students, partners and shareholders well into the future," he said.
The company announced a fully-franked final dividend of 10.1 cents, compared to 10.2 cents a year ago, taking the full year dividend to 19.5 cents per cents, the same as last year.
