Laureate Education Confirms Guidance; Revises Debt Outlook Due To Share Buyback

(RTTNews) - Laureate Education, Inc. (LAUR) re-affirmed its full-year 2019 guidance for all metrics except for net debt. Laureate said its board has approved a new stock repurchase program to acquire up to $150 million of the Class A common stock. In light of the share repurchase program, the outlook for net debt at the end of the year has been revised upward to approximately $1 billion.

For the second-quarter, earnings per share was $3.48 compared to $1.00, prior year. Net income included a $641.5 million net gain related to the completion of the sales of South Africa, India, Spain and Portugal institutions. Adjusted EBITDA was $297.3 million, an improvement of 4% on an organic constant currency basis.

Second-quarter revenue was $1.00 billion, up 3% on an organic constant currency basis. On a reported basis, revenue decreased by 2%, affected by weakening of foreign currencies, primarily the Chilean Peso and the Brazilian Real, against the US Dollar.