TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 8, 2014) - Loyalist Group Limited (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:LOY) is pleased to announce that it has launched a program to licence its best-in-class English-as-a-second-language curriculum for overseas schools.
Under the program, Loyalist will offer its curriculum and grant its own diplomas to franchisees and their students in exchange for a combination of fees and royalty payments. Loyalist expects that franchising will create substantial high-margin revenues by allowing the Company to earn income from overseas students who choose to study in their own countries.
Loyalist is targeting four countries for the launch of the program: Mexico, China, Turkey and South Korea. Setup fees payable by the franchisee to Loyalist range from $0 to $100,000 while royalty rates range from 5-20% of gross revenues (or $50 per student per month).
Loyalist has already signed 5 franchise agreements, and expects to add several more franchise agreements per quarter over the coming years.
"Franchising is the logical next step in our evolution towards becoming a truly global brand in the ESL market," said CEO Andrew Ryu. "We are easily the No. 1 choice of foreign students who want to come to Canada. But there are millions of other students who will choose to study in their home countries rather than coming to Canada. These students still want a first-rate curriculum and the ability to earn a recognized diploma, and Loyalist can offer both of those things. We expect this to be highly accretive to our income as the cost of setting up and running this business is small relative to the potential revenues."