The RedHill Education Ltd (ASX: RDH) share price has surged up today after the company announced a positive trading update to the market this morning.
At the time of writing, the RedHill share price is trading up 5% at 94 cents.
What's driving the RedHill share price higher?
The RedHill share price has lifted today after the company updated investors on its performance for the first-half of the 2021 financial year.
For the period ending 31 December 2020, RedHill delivered total revenues in the range of $22.4 million to $22.8 million.
This was underpinned by its strong domestic student market offsetting the short-term impacts of international student numbers. Greenwich Management and Coder Academy enrolments continued to increase, up 8% and 36% respectively, over the prior corresponding period.
RedHill reported a robust balance sheet with cash on hand of $23.1 million and nil bank debt. Management will use the capital to fund growth initiatives to generate revenue when international borders re-open.
In addition, 3 new undergraduate certificate courses were approved in November for FEE-HELP student tuition loans and government-funded places. These courses are scheduled to launch early this year.
What did management say?
RedHill CEO Glenn Elith welcomed the progress, saying:
We are delighted with the levels of resiliency in the business, with positive momentum in our domestic student revenues partially offsetting short-term challenges in the international student market.
We have bolstered RedHill's balance sheet, and are confident that our strong cash position will enable RedHill to weather continued operating disruptions due to international border closures and to accelerate the recovery of international student revenues when borders do ultimately re-open.
Outlook
RedHill said it was ready to respond when international borders reopened to quickly re-build its student numbers. This follows active ongoing discussions with government bodies around Australia to develop and implement a COVID-19 safe plan.
The company has also moved its course delivery online, offering both full and partial online options to remote learning students.
RedHill share price snapshot
The RedHill share price was hit hard when COVID-19 first entered the world stage last year. Falling from its 52-week high of $1.97 last January, the company's shares continued a descent to 43 cents in August.
While the last 3 months have been positive for the RedHill share price, it is still down almost 50% since this time last year.
