CIRA Education is looking at M&A and westward expansion as it reports rising net income in 1Q

Our friends at CIRA Education saw their normalized net income rise 67% y-o-y in 1H FY 2025/26 to EGP 678.3 mn, according to the EGX-listed education provider’s latest earnings release (pdf). The increase was supported by a 31% y-o-y rise in revenues to EGP 2.8 bn, as growth in the higher education segment helped offset a tougher comparison base in K-12.

Higher ed is doing the heavy lifting: Segment revenues climbed 35% y-o-y to EGP 2 bn, while enrollment surged 39% to 36k students. Growth was driven by strong intake at Badr University’s Cairo and Assiut campuses and the continued ramp-up at Saxony Egypt University. Utilization of available seats in higher ed jumped to 88%, up from 67% a year earlier.

K-12 is also growing — just more steadily: Revenues rose 23% y-o-y to EGP 882.8 mn as the network expanded to 30 schools. Enrollment reached 37.2k students, up 4.3% y-o-y, and utilization held strong at 93% despite new capacity coming online.

That slower pace reflects the segment’s scale. “When I mention a high base, I mean a large existing student body,” CEO Mohamed El Kalla tells EnterpriseAM. With enrollment already at 37k, each new 1.5k-seat school has a smaller incremental impact. Translation: K-12 growth is normalizing, and CIRA “is going to enter into a phase of looking at specific M&As and higher patterns of growth,” El Kalla says.

So where does growth come from next? Part of the answer lies abroad. CIRA is targeting diaspora markets, with CIRA Global Ventures’ recent minority stake in US-based Falcon Academy. “We have an interest in seeing ourselves existing westward, where there is a huge growth of diaspora looking for services like ours that are highly globally connected while still maintaining a specific cultural setup,” El Kalla says.

Closer to home, the group is also building a regional footprint, with its sister company, Social Impact Capital Education, already operating in Saudi Arabia through Brooke House College Riyadh, and additional projects in the pipeline yet to be announced.

The bigger shift: CIRA is moving beyond being just an education provider. Through its new CIRA Care arm, the group is focusing more on human capital development, positioning itself as a provider of skilled labor. The focus is on “gray-collar” roles, with programs already in place alongside international partners to supply talent to both local and global markets, El Kalla says.