Academía Sóller

AT A GLANCE:

• Easily run: can be managed by owners with teaching staff, or management/teaching owners
• Established computerized client database including corporate clients
• Freelance and contracted staff members
• VAT (equivalent) exempt
• Excellent market position
• Endless business potential, depending on you as an owner since the market is there to be tapped into
• Quick sale possible


LANGUAGE LEARNING IN SÓLLER

Sóller and the Port de Sóller have recently secured their places as part of the elite of holiday destinations in Western Europe. Regularly featured in broadsheet supplements and high-end lifestyle magazines, Sóller has begun to be synonymous with the new face of tourism. Each season offers different attractions from rugged mountain trails to luxury yacht charters, from Michelin starred dining to barbequed fresh prawns on the beach. No wonder it attracts both second homers and expats seeking an alternative lifestyle. Similarly, investors are finding in Sóller an abundance of opportunities and a healthy financial market. The anticipated opening of Spain’s first “7 star” hotel in the Port will bring in unprecedented business and investment opportunities. The combination of a growth of high-end boutique tourism and an increasing expat community has placed the language school, Academia Sóller, at the heart of community.

THE SCHOOL

Well-established for over 17 years with an excellent reputation, Academia Sóller is a vibrant, successful language school with enormous potential. With over 100 local students enrolled over the course of the year, the student database is ever-expanding, especially with the recent introduction of Spanish language tuition and the overseas clientele has begun to attract. The school is situated in one of the most beautiful parts of the Mediterranean on the northern coast of the island of Mallorca, 30 minutes drive from the regional capital of Palma and its international airport. What better way to earn a substantial living while living in an idyllic setting?
The school is government accredited to run subsidized courses in English and German, which, in addition to our popular general and exam courses for adults and children in Spanish, English, German, and French, makes the academia a profitable and locally visible business. It is the only school in the region offering English, German and French in addition to Spanish and other languages, and the courses are therefore in high demand and without competition.
There are currently four part time teachers. There is also a data base of teachers living in the area and willing to teach any subject. All the teachers are highly professional, qualified, native speakers (Spanish, English, German and French). They are flexible and reliable.
The business is a registered S.L. company (Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada), the Spanish equivalent of an English Limited, the German GmbH or Dutch BV.

THE PREMISES

Situated on the main square of the town, with magnificent views of the coastal mountains, the school consists of 3 classrooms (the largest of which holds 30 students), an office, male and female toilets, and a comfortable reception area, with a street level private entrance with glass door and logo. Extensive renovations of the premises were carried out in summer 2007, creating a modern and attractive property. The building is leased for €600 a very reasonable amount which is by no means reflective of its prime location or high quality renovations. A 5 year minimum lease will be signed, but this is not binding. The rent will increase only by the rate of inflation each year.

FACILITIES

The school is fully equipped with 10 computers all connected to ADSL Wifi with webcams and headsets, professional marketing materials including stationary and a full range of bilingual publicity consisting of professional posters, leaflets and brochures, price lists, registration forms, level tests, course certificates, and an extensive website in English, German, Dutch and Spanish (www.academiasoller.com ).
Each of the classrooms is fitted with whiteboards, stereos, computers, classroom furniture, air conditioning and heating and modern spotlighting. A full range of textbooks and teaching materials, cds, novels, and DVDs will be included in the sale price, in addition to equipment including a laminating machine, a laser all-in-one printer, an ink jet all-in-one printer, overhead project and beamer.

CLIENTELE

Academia Sóller is a well-established school and has had a client database for over 17 years. Students typically enroll in short term intensive courses or trimester courses with the option to continue on through the academic year and summer. We are well-recognized within the area as the place to come for anyone who wants to learn a language, from kids and teenagers to university students and professionals.
We even cater to the unemployed as we offer free courses which are subsidized by the government of the Balearic Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), making the school an thriving business in the winter months when a portion of the working public are not working due to the seasonal nature of the Mediterranean economy. The demand for these courses is extraordinary with increasing numbers of residents from South America, Africa and Eastern Europe adding to the growth in student numbers in the school. Thus, outside of the high tourist season, Academia Sóller is dedicated to training job seekers within the region in the necessary language skills to help them find work in the tourist industry.

The introduction of Spanish language tuition now presents the school with equal buoyancy throughout the summer months when tourists come on holiday and the locals go back to work. Having said this, Sóller enjoys all-year round tourism due to both its location in the mountains and by the sea which attracts hikers and mountain bikers, and the beauty of the town itself and surrounding honey-coloured stone villages which draws winter sun seekers and language holiday makers. The owners direct these Spanish courses towards both residents – there is an ever increasing number of non-national, non-Spanish speaking residents in the region – in addition to visitors who are attracted to ´language holidays´ or ´training courses´ paid for by their companies. Recently, for example, the RAF paid for some of their engineers to carry out a highly successful two-week intensive course.
The most recent innovation includes ´in-house´ training in German, Spanish and English on company premises, which is managed and organized by the school. The possibilities for expansion in this area and others are endless and the surface has only been slightly scratched since managements’ attention has so far been directed largely towards the government courses. For example, one of the aims of the school is to become accredited by the Cervantes Institute within the next five years. This, in turn, would enable a wealth of possibilities for preparing students for official Spanish exams and for becoming associated with language travel agencies providing ready-made clientele.

BUSINESS POTENTIAL

There is plenty of potential for expansion of the business:

• Spanish and Catalán courses are new to the business, so with the new publicity and websites, a greater outreach abroad will bring in a great deal of business;
• More hotels and restaurants can be targeted for ´in-house´ teaching.
• There are further possibilities for government funded courses which the school could directly apply for since it is already government accredited;
• There are franchise opportunities;
• Course development already has included computer courses, and there has been interest from potential teachers and students in courses in art, drama, dance and other cultural activities;
• There is potential for the physical expansion of the school: another classroom and office adjacent to the school and owned by the same landlord are likely to become available in the near future as they are only used for an evening a month.

This is the ideal time to purchase the school. The business would be ideal for a teaching couple and/or business people who know their way in international marketing and travel industry. In the case of a sale, our school manager (and German language professor) would be very pleased to help the new owner(s) out with starting up. Of course she is available as a teacher and promotor/coordinator of courses. Terms of takeover dates are flexible.