I’ve long been of the opinion that online education is inevitable for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the Internet is the perfect medium for the delivery of such a service. There already exists a number of educational organisations online such as the Khan Academy that allow you to educate yourself up to degree level, and higher, in a very wide range of subjects. The cost of delivering traditional education is very high and extremely labour intensive. Education is still delivered in a Victorian old-fashion way. The cost of maintaining schools’ and universities’ buildings is vast. Children and young adults are bored with the way they are being taught. Video conferencing and webinars are very effective teaching tools. Students much prefer interactive online tools for learning such as computer gaming. The cost of obtaining a degree is extortionate these days with the average student leaving university with £55,000 in student debt.
The recent coronavirus pandemic lockdown has accelerated lots of changes in society which were already occurring such as working and studying from home, flexible hours, video conferencing, webinars, homeschooling etc. This trend is likely to continue as we emerge from lockdown into the new normal.
Being aware of the changes in society we decided to invest in an e-learning company and, after researching the market, we decided to invest in a British company called Wey Education exactly 4 months ago to the day of writing this blog.
Wey Education provides online educational services with a global reach across its InterHigh and Academy21 divisions. InterHigh is a non-selective fee paying online secondary school, established in 2005. Academy21 serves other educational providers, schools, local authorities and other public bodies. The aim of Wey is to become the largest secondary school in the UK by the number of students. That is a highly ambitious yet achievable target.
InterHigh delivers live, interactive teaching of the British Curriculum to year groups 4 through to 13, including teaching both GCSE and A levels and with some City and Guilds and other vocational courses. It is a complete school with a broad academic, pastoral and enrichment programme ensuring that young people who join the school study successfully for their future career and life choices. InterHigh continues to expand and pupil numbers are at an all-time high.
Academy 21 is an online educational business that provides a range of Key Stage 3 and GCSE programmes to pupils who have been referred by local authorities and schools across the UK. It delivers alternative education provision to schools, local authorities and other education providers. The group has successfully grown the business since the acquisition, and the brand now leads the B2B division. Revenue and profitability in Academy21 have exceeded the group’s targets this year.
The share price performance since we bought the shares has been excellent with a rise in the value of 18.25% in spite of the stock market crash in February/March this year. We invested in the company 4 months ago before the crash. That is a remarkable performance during a period when most companies’ share prices globally have fallen. The share price is quite volatile but that is typical of a smaller company’s shares especially during a volatile period for the stock market.
So if you would like to benefit from the CCM Intelligent Wealth Fund’s investment strategy why not contact us with a view to investing in our fund? You know it makes sense.
