BEIJING, June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc. (the "Company" or "New Oriental") (NYSE: EDU), the largest provider of private educational services in China, today announced the completion of the US$50 million share repurchase program authorized by its board of directors in April 2013.
Under the program, the company repurchased 2,436,300 shares, representing approximately 1.5% of its outstanding shares as at June 18, 2013, at an average price of US$20.47 per share during the period from April 29 to June 17, 2013.
Michael Yu, New Oriental's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The successful execution of this share repurchase program demonstrates both our continued commitment to returning value to our shareholders and our confidence in the long-term potential of the company. Given our strong cash position, we believe that the program represented a good investment at this time. We continue to execute our 'Harvest the Market' strategy, which is focused on improving operational efficiency and increasing profitability, and we are confident that this approach will deliver sustained margin improvement and drive long-term growth."
About New Oriental
New Oriental is the largest provider of private educational services in China based on the number of program offerings, total student enrollments and geographic presence. New Oriental offers a wide range of educational programs, services and products consisting primarily of English and other foreign language training, test preparation courses for major admissions and assessment tests in the United States, the PRC and Commonwealth countries, primary and secondary school education, development and distribution of educational content, software and other technology, and online education. New Oriental's ADSs, each of which represents one common share, currently trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ''EDU.''
For more information about New Oriental, please visit http://english.neworiental.org .
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013 and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as New Oriental's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. New Oriental may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about New Oriental's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: our ability to attract students without a significant decrease in course fees; our ability to continue to hire, train and retain qualified teachers; our ability to maintain and enhance our "New Oriental" brand; our ability to effectively and efficiently manage the expansion of our school network and successfully execute our growth strategy; the outcome of ongoing, or any future, litigation or arbitration, including those relating to copyright and other intellectual property rights; competition in the private education sector in China; changes in our revenues and certain cost or expense items as a percentage of our revenues; the expected growth of the Chinese private education market; Chinese governmental policies relating to private educational services and providers of such services; health epidemics and other outbreaks in China; and general economic conditions in China. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in our annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New Oriental does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and New Oriental undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
Contacts
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
In China:
Mr. Martin Reidy
FTI Consulting
Tel: +86 10 8591 1060
Email: martin.reidy@fticonsulting.com
Ms. Sisi Zhao
New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.
Tel: +86-10-6260-5568
Email: zhaosisi@xdf.cn
SOURCE New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.
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