By Aaditya GovindRao
(Reuters) – Australia’s IDP Education forecast a drop in annual profit on Tuesday, triggering a 48% plunge in its shares as tighter student visa rules hit demand at the firm that jointly owns the IELTS English language exam with the British Council and Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
The company forecast fiscal 2025 adjusted operating earnings of A$115–A$125 million, nearly halved from last year and below a consensus estimate of A$166.3 million according to E&P Capital analysts.
IDP’s stock slumped as much as 48.3% by 0411 GMT, marking its biggest intraday decline ever. It was last down 45% at A$4.11, trading at near eight-year lows and the worst performer on the benchmark S&P ASX200 index.
The company, which also provides placement services to students looking for admissions at foreign institutes, said student policies remained restrictive in Canada and Australia after their elections, while the UK’s recent immigration policy white paper signaled further restrictions to student immigration.
For the United States, the international student environment is “increasingly negative”, the company said in a statement.
President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of his hardline immigration agenda.
“While elections have now been held in all key destination markets, policy uncertainty and negative rhetoric continues, while economic uncertainty increased,” the company said.
IDP expects its student placement volumes to fall by 28% to 30% and language testing volumes to decrease 18% to 20% over last year.
“Whilst fee growth will partly offset volume declines, we had expected a better performance than overall market declines given IDP’s focus on genuine student flows,” analysts at Sandstone Insights said in a note.
($1 = 1.5461 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
