21 RM

Revenue: £189m (-16%)

Net profit: 4.5% Staff: 1,803

This LSE-listed education supplier saw revenues roll back 16 per cent to £189m in its year to 30 November 2020 amid school closures and exam cancellations. Its ‘RM Education' ICT arm - which supplies software, technology and IT services to 7,000 schools - proved more resilient than the wider business (it also makes educational resources and assessment software) as schools continued to require tech support and remote learning assistance through lockdown. It saw sales shrink nine per cent to £65m.

Covid impact

Although Covid had a "material impact" on RM's results, RM Education's 2020 revenue drop was due mainly to a £5m hole left by the conclusion of the Building Schools for the Future programme in 2019. RM Education saw revenues rebound 11 per cent YoY to £32.3m in its H1 to 31 May 2021, with the wider business also returning to growth.