Intueri in trading halt ahead of announcement

Friday 23rd September 2016

Intueri Education Group is in a trading halt pending an announcement from the company.

Since listing in 2014, the private training school operator has had to contend with a series of setbacks, including several probes into student enrolments, a student death at its dive school, the sudden exit of its chief executive, and more recently amended its lending covenants that were at risk of being breached.

The shares last traded at 30 cents and have fallen 58 percent this year, making them the third-biggest decliner on the S&P NZX All Capital Index behind Wynyard Group and Bethunes Investments. Intueri listed at $2.35 in May 2014 and peaked at $3.35 in September 2014.

The company has missed prospectus forecasts and has been investigated by the Serious Fraud Office and its Quantum Education Group and Dive School units have been reviewed by the Tertiary Education Commission. It suspended dividends in February pending the TEC review and is focusing on repaying debt as a result of the new lending covenant.

Intueri has shed 70 staff in an effort to stem the red ink and in May directors agreed to cut their fees as the company sought to slash costs. CEO Rob Facer left suddenly last month, with chief financial officer Rod Marvin stepping in as acting chief.

In March this year it was ordered to pay about $150,000 in reparations to the family of a foreign diving student who died during training, after pleading guilty to one charge under the Health and Safety in Employment Act, in addition to a $54,000 fine.

In June, TEC said Intueri must refund $1.47 million plus tax after an investigation into its dive school showed some student enrolments between 2009–2014 could not be validated and some courses under-delivered against their funding agreement.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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