‘Milestone’ year for education tech specialist as it targets further expansion
Education software and services provider Tribal today said its focus on becoming a “pureplay EdTech” was paying off as it reported a year of solid growth.
The Bristol-headquartered international group claimed the move would drive further growth in high margin recurring SaaS (software-as-a-service) revenue and reduce costs in order to improve profit margins.
Mark Pickett, Tribal chief executive, described last year’s performance as a milestone in the transformation of the group into an EdTech, SaaS business.
Annual recurring revenue (ARR) during the year increased by 6.5% to £57m, with a 9% growth in the group’s strategic core products.
Group revenue increased by 6% to £9m. However, its pre-tax profit for the year decreased from £6.6m to £5.9m as higher earnings were offset by increased exceptional costs.
Student Information Systems (SIS) revenue grew 7.2% to £72.7m, with 25.2% growth in Foundation Cloud revenue and an 8.3% increase in Software revenue, partly offset by an expected reduction in non-core other software and services.
Mr Pickett added: “With strong, long-term customer relationships and increasing cloud adoption, we are set for sustained growth in our core business.
“Despite market challenges, we delivered revenue and EBITDA higher than expectations, significantly reduced debt, and saw impressive ARR growth.
” Looking ahead, we are focused on optimising our operations and driving continued growth and increasing cashflow generation.
“Following the success of FY24, we are confident in achieving results in line with the board’s expectations for FY25.”
Tribal said as part of the transition to a pureplay EdTech, SaaS business, it was in the process of making its existing SIS products available in the cloud, while continuing to develop select new cloud-based modules to meet the evolving needs of universities.
This included a major new offering, Tribal Admissions, which is due for full market availability next year.
A key strategic goal for this year was to migrate customers onto the new pricing model, it said, which would drive growth in high margin recurring SaaS revenues and increase cashflow generation.
While it will take some time to move customers from their existing contracts, there were incentives for customers to move early, the group said.
The performance came as the higher education sectors in its core markets of the UK, Australia and New Zealand were expecting a challenging environment this year, with funding gaps driving programmes of cost reduction and course closure at many universities.
