Intueri's Australian colleges lose registration

Tuesday 28th February 2017

Intueri Education Group, the ailing private training provider, will lose its Australian registration in late March, earlier than its planned exit by the end of the year.

The Australian Skills Quality Authority will cancel the registration of Intueri's Conwal & Associates and Online Courses Australia colleges from March 29, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. The Australian schools were audited by ASQA last year and found to have fallen short of the required standards, prompting Intueri to bring the subsidiaries under one umbrella. It hoped this would keep them as a registered training organisation before voluntarily de-registering at the end of 2017, letting existing students complete their courses.

The private training organisation said that plan would have allowed the Australian colleges to break even for the rest of the year and that it's considering an appeal, due within 28 days of the notice.

"Intueri is very disappointed that ASQA has not accepted the detailed rectification response provided by Intueri in response to ASQA's audit findings (which were based mainly on the time period from April 2015 to July 2016), or recognised the significant rectification work that Intueri has undertaken over 2016 and 2017," it said.

The company is operating at its bank's discretion, having breached lending covenants in the six months through December, and is currently running the rule over its businesses after losing Australian federal government funding for its courses across the Tasman. It is separately facing scrutiny from New Zealand authorities.

The shares have slumped 96 percent to 1.6 cents over the past 12 months, valuing the company at just $1.6 million. It went public in 2014, a busy year for initial public offerings, raising $60 million at $2.35 a share and valuing Intueri at $235 million.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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