Jul 26, 2023 | Business
Edvantage Group Holdings Limited (“Edvantage Group” or the “Group”, stock code: 0382.HK), the largest private business higher and vocational education group in the Greater Bay Area, has announced its unaudited financial data and business update for the nine months ended 31 May 2023 (the “Period under Review”).
Business Update Highlights (Unaudited relevant data for the nine months ended 31 May 2023)
— Revenue increased by 16.1% YoY to approximately RMB1,460.3 million;
— Gross profit rose by 16.3% YoY to approximately RMB735.7 million;
— Number of student enrolments increased by 11.6% against the same period last year to 87,068.
During the Period under Review, the Group achieved steady growth in both revenue and gross profit, with the former increasing by 16.1% year-on-year to approximately RMB1,460.3 million and the latter up by 16.3% year-on-year to approximately RMB735.7 million. The Group’s gross profit margin was 50.4%. The increase in the Group’s revenue was mainly attributable to the increase in the number of student enrolments and average tuition fees in all the PRC operating schools of the Group. The number of full-time student enrolments of the Group was 87,068 for the nine months ended May 31, 2023.
National Policies Continue to Support the Development of Industry-Education Integration to Promote High-Quality Development of Vocational Education
On 13 June 2023, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, jointly issued the “Action Plan for Empowering and Improving Vocational Education through the Integration of Production and Education (2023-2025)”. Four key areas highlighted in the plan include promoting the integration of industry and education, strengthening the foundation for the development of vocational colleges, establishing practical training bases for industry-education integration, and deepening cooperation between industry-education integration and enterprises. The Group actively responds to the relevant national policies, focuses on internal construction, further promote the integration of industry and education, cultivate and build industry-education integration-oriented enterprises, and comprehensively promote the high-quality development of vocational education.
Adhered to High-Quality and Highly Compliant Education, Teaching Brands Widely Recognised
During the Period under Review, the Group closely followed the national policy guidelines, insisted on high-quality and highly compliant education, and focused on bringing out the full potential of high-quality education. The teaching brands of the Group’s schools have received recognition by the society. Guangzhou Huashang College ranked 10th in the national private finance and economics colleges in the 2023 Best Chinese University Ranking of Shanghai Ranking; The employment rate of the 2022 graduates of Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College is as high as 97.8%. In 2022, the number of students admitted to the undergraduate programmes of Huashang Vocational College and the admission rate reached a record high, and the admission rate has reached 61.5%. Urban Vocational College of Sichuan has ranked first in the Competitiveness Ranking of Chinese Higher Vocational Colleges in the recent three consecutive years in the province. Urban Technician College of Sichuan is a “Three Stars Famous School – Sichuan Provincial Secondary Formal Vocational Education Famous School, Famous Major, Famous Training Base Construction Project. Guangdong Huashang Technical School was recognised by the Human Resources and Social Security Department of Guangdong Province as a “Provincial Demonstration Technical School Founding Unit”.
Established Three New Undergraduate Majors and Six New Higher Vocational Majors to Promote the Development of Industry-Education Integration
The Group actively improve the structural setting of vocational education by offering more majors that were in shortage and met market demand, forming a professional system closely connected with the industrial and innovation chain. Among others, Huashang College has been approved to offer three new undergraduate application-oriented majors in digital economy, financial mathematics, and jewellery design and technology. Huashang Vocational College has also added a total six new application-oriented majors, including big data application on finance and taxation, online marketing and live broadcast e-commerce, business data analysis and application, architectural interior design, cloud computing technology application, and dental technology, with a view to injecting new vitality to talent training of the schools.
Outstanding Contributions in ESG, Active Assumption of Corporate Social Responsibilities
The Group has always been steadfast in assuming its corporate social responsibility and actively contributing to social development, focusing mainly on the learning, exchanges, internships, employment, and entrepreneurship of young people in Hong Kong and Macao. The Group donated two ” Edvantage x VTC” coffee trucks to the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education under the Hong Kong Vocational Training Council to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship among young people in Hong Kong. The long-term cooperation between the Group’s schools and the Vocational Training Council has effectively promoted the coordinated development of vocational education in the Greater Bay Area, helping to develop the Greater Bay Area into an “international centre for vocational education development” and jointly creating a new highland for the integration of industry and education in the Greater Bay Area.
Future Development
Looking ahead, the Group will promote the high-quality development of vocational education, guided by national policies and the market. In terms of education, the Group will adhere to high-quality and highly compliant education, utilise the advantages of educational resources in international education market and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and rely on the integration of industry and education to cultivate application-oriented talent with a sense of social responsibility and an international vision, in order to continue to contribute to the empowerment of enterprises, service to society, and the development of the country.
About Edvantage Group Holdings Limited
Edvantage Group Holdings Limited (‘Edvantage Group’ or the ‘Group’, stock code: 0382.HK) is the largest private business higher education and vocational education group in the Greater Bay Area, and an early mover in education sector in pursuing international expansion, listed in Hong Kong Main Board on 16 July 2019. The total number of full-time student enrolments of the Group was approximately 87,100 as of 31 May 2023. Operated 9 private education institutions, namely, Guangzhou Huashang College (Applied Undergraduate), Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College (Higher Vocational Education) and Guangdong Huashang Technical School (Secondary Vocational Education) located in Guangdong, China; Urban Vocational College of Sichuan (Higher Vocational Education) and Urban Technician College of Sichuan (Secondary Vocational Education) in Sichuan, China; GBA Business School (GBABS) in Hong Kong, China; Global Business College of Australia (GBCA) and Edvantage Institute Australia (EIA) in Australia; Edvantage Institute (Singapore) (EIS) in the downtown of Singapore.
While focusing on school operations, the Group also actively fulfil corporate social responsibility, extensively contributing to social welfare programmes including charity, poverty alleviation, education and revitalisation, in order to take the initiative in repaying society through action. Since its listing, the Group has made outstanding contribution in the field of ESG and has won the “InnoESG Care Prize” in 2021, Gelonghui’s “Mid-to-Small Market Value Corporate Social Responsibility Award of the Year”, and Zhitong Caijing’s “Best CSR Listed Company” award in 2022.
Topic: Press release summary
Nov 17, 2021 | Business
Edvantage Group Holdings Limited (“Edvantage Group” or the “Group”, stock code: 0382.HK), the largest private vocational education group in the Greater Bay Area (“GBA”), announced its annual results for the year ended 31 August 2021 (the “Period under Review”). During the Period under Review, the Group operated eight education institutions, namely Guangzhou Huashang College (“Huashang College”) and Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College (“Huashang Vocational College”) in Guangdong province, China; Urban Vocational College of Sichuan (“Urban Vocational College”) and Urban Technician College of Sichuan (“Urban Technician College”) in Sichuan province, China; GBA Business School (“GBABS”) in Hong Kong, China; Global Business College of Australia (“GBCA”) and Edvantage Institute Australia (“EIA”) in Melbourne, Australia; and Edvantage Institute (Singapore)
(“EIS”) in the downtown of Singapore.
Results Highlights (For the year ended 31 August 2021)
— Revenue increased by 56.4% YoY to approx. 1,251.6 million(RMB, the same below);
— Gross profit rose by 59.2% YoY to approx. 630.9 million;
— Adjusted net profit attributable to owners of the Company1 increased by 48.7% YoY to approx. 459.7 million;
— Basic earnings per share increased by 37.5% YoY to 39.42 cents;
— Proposed final dividend per share is HK8.4 cents; Annual dividend payout ratio is 30%;
— Number of student enrolments increased by 74.4% YoY to approx. 61,829.
Note: (1) For the year ended 31 August 2021, adjusted net profit attributable to owners of the Company is determined by adjusting profit for the year of approx. RMB469.7 million for the effect of net foreign exchange loss of approx. RMB25.8 million, share-based payments of approx. RMB20.2 million and profit for the year attributable to non-controlling interests of approx. RMB56.0 million.
During the Period under Review, the Group’s revenue grew by 56.4% year-on-year (“YoY”) to approx. 1,251.6 million; Gross profit increased by 59.2% YoY to approx. 630.9 million; and adjusted net profit attributable to owners of the Company rosed by 48.7% YoY to approx. 459.7 million; Basic earnings per share increased by 37.5% YoY to 39.42 cents; The number of student enrolments increased by 74.4% to approx. 61,829. A final dividend in respect of the year ended 31 August 2021 of HK8.4 cents per share was proposed by the Board of the Group, together with the recognised interim dividend of HK5.5 cents per share, the annual dividend payout ratio is 30%. The Group recorded the best performance since listing, which was mainly attributable to the steady increases in number of students and tuition fees standard derived from original businesses (i.e. Huashang College, Huashang Vocational College, GBCA, EIA and EIS), as well as earnings generated by the newly acquired schools (i.e. Urban Vocational College and Urban Technician College).
Business Update
Closely Following National Policies to Run Schools
The Group’s Businesses are Strongly encouraged by the New Vocational Education Policy During the Period under Review, the State introduced a number of policies to support and encourage the development of vocational education. In October 2021, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council released the Guidelines on Promoting the High-quality Development of Modern Vocational Education, clearly supporting and encouraging listed companies and industry leaders to develop vocational education, incentivising application-oriented colleges and universities to develop vocational education at the undergraduate level, quantifying the admission scale of vocational education at the undergraduate level and the vision of basically building a skilled society by 2035. National policies delivered a positive signal to vocational education. The Group’s businesses all fall within the scope of vocational education encouraged by the State. Moreover, the Group’s schools in China are located in the Greater Bay Area and the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, which are key economic development regions and have the advantages that are conducive to the development of vocational education, including strong economic development momentum, continuous release of dividend from school-age population, low gross enrolment rate of higher education sector and enough room for bargaining power. In conclusion, industrial and regional policies are utterly conducive to the long-term sustainable development of the Group’s businesses.
Adhering to High Quality and High Compliance Distinctive School-running
In terms of teaching faculty, the Group adopted the strategy of “strengthening schools with talents”. It has a leadership team and a team of high-calibre teachers comprising of well-known authoritative experts, including Albert SUN-CHI CHAN, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn, a laureate of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Among the teachers of the Group’s schools in Guangdong province and Sichuan province, nearly 30% have an associate professor title; nearly 55% have a master’s degree or above; and over 100 of them have a doctoral degree. Meanwhile, over 100 teachers and industry experts from well-known universities such as Sun Yat-sen University, Jinan University, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Big Four accounting firms and SenseTime have been introduced flexibly. Besides, in terms of teaching facilities, the Group insists on constructing and rebuilding laboratories year by year with high standards, high configuration and high level, and continues to create a high-standard application-oriented training mode to support practical teaching and cultivate application-oriented high-end talents.
Catering to the Market Needs
Synergistic Development of Trans-discipline and Multi-discipline
The Group enriched its disciplines based on the social and market needs and gradually formed a superior discipline cluster with synergistic development that centres on “new business” and covers “new engineering”, “AI”, “big data”, “digital creativity”, “big health”, “education” and other disciplines. The vocational education business associated with “big health” in high demand for talents developed rapidly, which benefitted from the featured school-running model of “combination of medicine and business” and the complementation of advantages of schools and enterprises for industry-education integration. The scale of students majoring in big health developed rapidly. In terms of academic vocational education, the Group’s schools in Guangdong province and Sichuan province have more than 4,400 students engaged in vocational education associated with “big health”, of which the enrolments of colleges of health and medicine of schools in Guangdong province have seen rapid growth with the number of students increased to more than 1,000 from over 100 in September 2019. As for non-academic vocational education, schools in Guangdong province and Sichuan province set up vocational skill level certificate courses about big health and held various competitions to train and produce more high-level skilled talents in the field of big health.
Giants Alliance
In-depth Expansion of Industry-education Integration
The Group’s schools have always led the implementation of the philosophy of “school-enterprise cooperation, coordinative education”, having built long-term, stable partnerships with over 700 renowned leading companies successively, including Huawei, Baidu, Kingdee, Sensetime, JD.com and Chengdu Metro. It has developed a constant path of cultivating skilled talents based on ordered classes, industry college co-construction and other cooperations, to establish a comprehensive system containing talent cultivation, scientific research and innovation, experimental base, internship and employment, social services, market brand, etc., which creates win-win results for students, schools, enterprises and the market.
Remarkable Breakthroughs of Domestic and Overseas Schools Operation
During the Period under Review, the Group further expanded its teaching footprint in the Greater Bay Area. It officially inaugurated GBABS in Hong Kong in September 2021, on which it signed a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding with Guangdong-HK-Macao Greater Bay Area Entrepreneurs Union and Cyberport. GBABS has held events like summits themed on Strategic New Thinking in the Greater Bay Area since its establishment. As a “super bridge” in the future, it will collaborate with more academic institutions and public and private organizations in the Greater Bay Area to gradually offer Executive Certificate/Diploma, Master of Business Administration, Executive MBA and Doctor of Business Administration programs to nurture outstanding leaders and talents for the Greater Bay Area.
In addition, the Group’s Sihui and Xinhui campuses in Guangdong province expanded smoothly. With the two campuses being put into use progressively, there will be considerable room for expansion of the Group’s school-running capacity in the GBA in the future.
International Education is not affected by the Covid-19
High Synergism between Domestic and Overseas Schools
The Group is China’s first private vocational education group to self-establish schools overseas, where it uses asset-light operation model. The Group’s overseas schools not only see steady local operations, the three schools, GBCA, EIA, and EIS, provide academic and non-academic vocational education and are all qualified to enroll local and overseas students. Among them, EIA offers undergraduate and master’s degree courses and is qualified to grant corresponding degrees. Moreover, the Group’s overseas schools have a high degree of integration with schools in China. The Group actively offered online international courses covering both formal and non-academic vocational education levels. It empowered domestic students in language competence, comprehensive abilities, employability and other aspects. The international education services have not been affected by the pandemic. The Group believes that high-quality international teaching services can continuously strengthen its education brands, and thus its bargaining power will be sustainably enhanced.
Education Brand Effect of Edvantage Group is Increasingly Prominent
In terms of further study, in the past two years, nearly 100 graduates of the Group have been enrolled at top 100 famous overseas schools listed on the QS World University Rankings for a master’s or doctoral degree. In terms of employment and entrepreneurship, great achievements have also been obtained in the past five years as nearly 500 graduates of the Group have been employed by Big Four accounting firms, 3,000 by world’s top 500 and China’s top 100 enterprises, and nearly 2,500 by unicorn companies of new economy and various well-known financial institutions. In response to the requirements of higher education development, schools have deeply implemented the policy of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, established a secondary college of innovation and entrepreneurship and the Huashang mass entrepreneurship incubation base, held various innovation and entrepreneurship competitions and offered relevant training. Graduates of the past five years have initiated many quality companies, and won many awards in national and provincial innovation and entrepreneurship competitions.
The Group’s schools have repeatedly made breakthroughs in terms of school-running achievements. Among them, it is worth mentioning that in May 2021, Huashang College was approved as a master’s degree conferring institution, becoming one of the first eight private colleges in Guangdong province to be such institution. In recent two years, Huashang Vocational College has made breakthroughs in both quality and scale, and its enrolment and further study rate are far ahead of private undergraduate colleges in Guangdong province. Urban Vocational College ranked No.1 in Sichuan province in the 2020 China Private Higher Vocational College Comprehensive Strength Ranking, and was one of the higher vocational colleges planned to be upgraded to an undergraduate university during the “13th Five-Year” Plan period, which shows superior school-running condition. Urban Technician College saw a significant growth in enrolment due to the smooth degree upgrading channel and broad employment prospects. It has been highly recognised by both parents and students.
Development Strategy and Target
Since it ran schools, the Group has been closely following the national policies, catering to market needs, and adhering to the principle of school operations with high compliance and high quality. Brand strategy, talent strategy and M&A strategy are three top-priority strategies for development. The Group will constantly develop its academic vocational education and non-academic vocational education businesses through organic growth and external expansion, and asset-light and asset-heavy operations to achieve sustained, steady and high-quality development. In addition, the Group’s schools will cooperate with leading enterprises in various industries to establish high-quality, market-demand-oriented industrial schools, a vocational education league or a vocational education group, thereby creating sustainable value for its shareholders.
About Edvantage Group Holdings Limited
Edvantage Group Holdings Limited (“Edvantage Group” or the “Group”, stock code: 0382.HK) is the largest private higher education group in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the “Greater Bay Area”) and an early mover in education sector in pursuing international expansion, and it was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange on 16 July 2019. As of 31 August 2021, the Group had nearly 62,000 students in schools and owns a total of 8 private education institutions, namely Guangzhou Huashang College (application-oriented undergraduate education) and Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College (higher academic vocational education) in Guangdong province, China; Urban Vocational College of Sichuan (higher academic vocational education) and Urban Technician College of Sichuan (secondary academic vocational education) in Sichuan province, China; GBA Business School (GBABS) in Hong Kong, China; Global Business College of Australia (GBCA) and Edvantage Institute Australia (EIA) in Melbourne, Australia; and Edvantage Institute (Singapore) (“EIS”) in the downtown of Singapore.
Topic: Press release summary
Apr 21, 2021 | Business
Edvantage Group Holdings Limited (“Edvantage Group” or the “Group”, stock code: 0382.HK), the largest private higher education group in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (the “Greater Bay Area”), is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results of the financial year 2021 for the 6 months ended 28 February 2021 (“Reporting Period”).
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| Shanghai venue, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Shanghai, Pudong, from the left: Ms. Liu Wenqi, Chief Operating Officer; Ms. Liu Yi Man, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer |
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Hong Kong venue, Edvantage Group’s Hong Kong Office, from the left:
Mr. Sunny Yan, Director of ICF & IR; Mr. Liu Yung Chau, Executive Director and Chairman of the Board; Mr. Simon Wong, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary |
Interim Results Highlights (Unaudited data for the 6 months ended 28 February 2021)
— Revenue (including revenue from vocational education business) grew by 32.5% YoY to approximately RMB554.3 million
— Vocational education business revenue(1) amounted to approximately RMB20.7 million
— Gross profit increased by 35.8% YoY to approximately RMB277.2 million, and gross profit margin increased by 1.2 ppts YoY to 50.0%
— Adjusted net profit(2) increased by 32.5% YoY to approximately RMB199.9 million
— Number of student enrolments(3) surged by 76.8% YoY to 62,404
— An interim dividend of HK5.5 cents per share is proposed, representing a dividend payout ratio(4) of 30%
During the Reporting Period, Edvantage Group’s revenue grew by 32.5% year-on-year (“YoY”) to approximately RMB554.3 million; gross profit increased by 35.8% YoY to approximately RMB277.2 million; gross profit margin increased by 1.2 percentage points YoY to 50.0%; and adjusted net profit increased by 32.5% YoY to approximately RMB199.9 million. Its total number of student enrolments surged by 76.8% YoY to 62,404. In Guangdong Province, the numbers of student enrolments of Guangzhou Huashang College (“Huashang College”) and Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College (“Huashang Vocational College”) respectively rose by 3.7% and 25.0% YoY to 24,991 and 13,324; in Sichuan Province, the numbers of student enrolments of Urban Vocational College of Sichuan (“Urban Vocational College”) and Urban Technician College of Sichuan (“Urban Technician College”) were respectively 14,249 and 6,109. The average tuition fees of Huashang College increased by 9.6% YoY to RMB26,661; that of Huashang Vocational College increased by 5.1% YoY to RMB16,361; that of Urban Vocational College amounted to RMB13,430; and that of Urban Technician College amounted to RMB9,901.
Performance Review
During the Reporting Period, Edvantage Group made new progress in expanding its school network, currently operating a total of 8 schools in China and abroad. The Group operated 5 schools in China, namely Huashang College, Huashang Vocational College, Urban Vocational College, Urban Technician College and Greater Bay Area Business School (“GBA”), and 3 schools abroad, namely Global Business College Australia (“GBCA”), Edvantage Institute Australia (“EIA”) and Edvantage Institute Singapore (“EIS”).
First M&A of Sichuan Schools Completed
Situated in Superior Locations with Top-ranked School-running Indicators
The Group successfully acquired Urban Vocational College and Urban Technician College on 4 December 2020, and both schools’ accounts have been consolidated to the group’s book since January 2021. Two schools can accommodate a total of approximately 35,000 students and their current number of student enrolments is more than 20,000.
Urban Vocational College ranked 1st in Sichuan Province and came 8th in China in 2020 Wu Shulian Private Higher Vocational Education School Comprehensive Strength Ranking. It is also the school planning to offer upgrading from junior college to degree course included in 14th Five Year Plan. Furthermore, Urban Vocational College ranked 1st in terms of tuition fees standards (RMB16,800 for regular students and RMB17,800 for students majoring in arts in the 2021/2022 school year) among colleges of the similar class in Sichuan Province. The school also stably ranks among the top three in terms of the enrolment rate (around 85% from the 2015/2016 school year to the 2020/2021 school year) among colleges of the similar class in Sichuan Province. All these indicators reflect the school’s high teaching quality. In addition, the employment rates of the school’s graduates in 2019 and the previous 9 years were more than 98%.
High Degree of Synergy Between Two Regions’ Campuses
These two acquired schools and the Group’s existing schools in China and overseas can establish a high degree of synergy with an increased number of full-time students, introduction of existing international teaching resources, complementarity and integration of majors setting, combination of cultivating mode of talents, mutual learning of innovative teaching and management services model as well as the improvement of the Group’s financial position. The Group believes that the integration will lead to sustainable development and have a positive impact on the development of education on both parties.
Conversion of Huashang College Announced
In December 2020, Huashang College was converted into an independent private regular undergraduate school with the official approval of the Commission of Guangdong Province on the Appraisal of the Establishment of Higher Education Schools and renamed from “Huashang College Guangdong University of Finance & Economics” to “Guangzhou Huashang College”. After the conversion, Huashang College will have more autonomy in school running and more flexibility in student enrolment and will be able to offer more quality degrees. Student status management fees payable to Guangdong University of Finance & Economics will also gradually diminish from FY2022, thereby improving the Group’s cost structure to improve efficiency.
Capacity of Guangdong Schools Expanded
The first-phase new campus of Huashang College in Sihui City, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province that covers an area of approximately 248 Mu was put into use in September 2020. The land of approximately 234 Mu for the second-phase campus was secured on 12 October 2020, and its construction is in active progress. The first-phase new campus of Huashang Vocational College in Xinhui District, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province that covers an area of approximately 683 Mu is expected to be put into use in September 2021. With the completion of Zengcheng, Sihui and Xinhui campuses in the core regions of the Greater Bay Area, the Group expects them to accommodate more than 80,000 students in total.
Guangdong Schools Made More Breakthroughs in Majors Setting
During the Reporting Period, the Group’s domestic schools made breakthroughs in the development of majors. In March 2021, the Accounting major of Huashang College was included in the world-leading top majors for development, marking another breakthrough in the development of majors after the designation of the Accounting major and Financial Management major as leading top majors for development in Guangdong Province in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Besides, Huashang College’s Journalism & Communication was also listed as a key development discipline subject in Guangdong Province.
During the Reporting Period, Huashang College offered 40 undergraduate majors, including 3 new majors, namely Primary Education, Nursing and Fintech, while Huashang Vocational College offered 52 junior college diploma programmes, including 8 new programmes, namely Early Education (a state-controlled major), Fintech Application, Software Technology, Cosmetics Operation and Management, Vision Technology, Image Design, Intelligent Control Technology and Electrical Automation Technology. These majors are closely linked to the needs for social development and highly sought after by parents and students. The Group believes that the new majors will help promote the development of relevant industries in the Greater Bay Area and be of great significance to the integration of talent cultivation and economic and social development.
Future Development Strategies
Given favourable national policies for private higher education, Edvantage Group will focus its efforts on developing brands, seeking endogenous growth and external expansion as well as cultivating talent to continuously promote its high-quality sustained growth.
Brand Strategy
With great emphasis on the building of teaching brands, the Group works to satisfy the needs of society and fit China’s clear positioning of school operations for the cultivation of talent in relevant fields, namely, “featuring finance and economy (i.e. business programmes) to develop application-oriented talents equipped with interdisciplinary skills, innovative awareness and international perspectives and who feels socially responsible and aspires to serve society and the country”. By doing so, the Group will keep exploring differentiated school operations such as international education, application-oriented teaching models and arrangement of innovative high-end majors according to the principle of “high-quality inputs for high-quality outputs.” So far, Edvantage’s education brands have become increasingly visible and widely and highly regarded by society, parents and students as these brands offer high-quality education services evidenced by high minimum admission scores and enrolment rates and quality education and employment prospects.
M&A Strategy
The Group has always been looking for targets for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of colleges in the Pan-Pearl River Delta region with strong demand for higher education resources. The Group will select target schools mainly based on their regional advantages, performance in school operations, development potential, synergy and consideration for M&As. The Group has completed its first M&A of colleges (i.e. Urban Vocational College and Urban Technician College) since the listing on the Stock Exchange on 16 July 2019. The Group will make corresponding disclosures in due course if there are new projects in the future.
Talent Strategy
The Group believes that talent is the cornerstone of stable sustainable development of a company, thus recruiting talented people to achieve sustained high-quality development. Up to now, the Group has many industry experts and famed consultants in China and abroad as its school leaders or in the teaching team, among which Mr. Chan Sun-chi, a fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, the Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry, are the Principal and Honorary Principal of Huashang College, respectively. In the future, the Group will keep creating a favourable environment for its existing teaching team while bringing in best people to China and aboard.
Mr. Liu Yung Chau, Founder and Chairman of the Board, said, “Alongside the development of the Greater Bay Area and the supportive educational policies of the PRC, Edvantage Group, which was originated in the Greater Bay Area, has made significant achievements since its listing. Prior to the FY2021 interim results, the Group has already announced 4 positive profit alerts and expects an even rapider growth in FY2021 than in the previous 2 years, mainly benefitting from 4 business growth drivers, namely the construction of new campuses, implementation of conversion, M&A and additional majors setting. Edvantage Group will proactively push forward with the vigorous development of domestic and overseas academic education and vocational education businesses. We have successfully expanded our domestic school network from Guangdong Province of the Greater Bay Area to Sichuan Province of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle. While endeavouring to enhance existing businesses, we are also earnestly seeking premium targets for M&A of colleges in regions favourable to school running. Looking forward, Edvantage Group will take both routes of endogenous growth and external expansion and proactively explore new businesses, aiming to grow into a renowned education brand in China and worldwide, thus continuously creating values for shareholders.”
Note: (1) Vocational education business revenue will be included in the main business revenue starting from FY2021. In fiscal year 2020, this part of the revenue was reflected in other income at approximately RMB 15 million;
(2) Adjusted net profit is the net profit with two one-time adjustments: 1) Exchange gains and losses (FY2021 interim: loss of RMB28,255,000; FY2020 interim: loss of RMB2,364,000); 2) Share-based payment related to employee incentive equity and share plans (FY2021 interim: RMB6,888,000; FY2020 interim: RMB1,345,000);
(3) The total number of student enrolments of Guangzhou Huashang College, Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College, Urban Vocational College of Sichuan, Urban Technician College of Sichuan, Global Business College of Australia, Edvantage Institute Singapore and Edvantage Institute Australia for the 6 months ended 28 February 2021;
(4) Dividend payout ratio: based on the 30% dividend policy disclosed in the Company’s prospectus
Topic: Press release summary
