CHAIRMAN'S AGM STATEMENT38366Commenting at today's Annual General Meeting of Nord Anglia, Alan Kelsey (Chairman designate) will make the following statement: ""First I would like to pay tribute to Kevin McNeany, who leaves the Company today. As you know Kevin founded Nord Anglia in 1972 and was Chairman from flotation in February 1997. Kevin has had a major influence on the development of the modern-day private education sector. I would like to thank him for his entrepreneurial vision and drive, which has helped to bring Nord Anglia Education to where it is today. We wish him well for the future. The early months of the current financial year have seen the new management team address the Group's market position in each of its core Divisions, building on last year's transformation of the business. Within our Nursery Division Tracey Storey, Operations Director, has been appointed to the position of Divisional Managing Director. The management team has completed the operational integration of the recently acquired nursery businesses ahead of schedule. Overall occupancy levels in November and December remained stable year-on-year albeit below anticipated levels. A sales and marketing strategy targeted at raising occupancy levels has been developed for each nursery and implementation of this strategy is now underway. When we update the market at the time of our Interim Results in May it should be apparent that these initiatives have impacted occupancy. In our International Schools business we have seen a further uplift in pupil registrations for the 2005 Spring term and current trading is fully in line with our expectations for the Division. Having strengthened our management team and improved the performance of existing schools the business is now well placed to develop the many new opportunities available in this exciting market. Having stabilised existing Outsourcing contracts and established a focused business development capability we can now see a stronger pipeline of new contract opportunities. The Company has a significant portfolio of current active bids and whilst this does not guarantee any contract wins, the business is better placed than it has been for some time. Whilst the task of increasing nursery occupancy remains a priority for this year's trading, we are excited by the growth opportunities available to all three Divisions and the calibre of the teams in place to run them."" " |
Nord Anglia Education
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