Press Release

BEIJING, Jan. 19, 2016 /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 its unaudited financial results for the fiscal quarter ended November 30, 2015, which is the second quarter of New Oriental's fiscal year 2016.   

Financial Highlights for the Second Fiscal Quarter Ended November 30, 2015

• Total net revenues increased by 17.7% year-over-year to US$278.1 million for the second fiscal quarter of 2016.
• Loss from operations was US$10.4 million, compared to a loss of 11.9 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year
• Net income attributable to New Oriental increased by 70.3% year-over-year to US$5.9 million.

Key Financial Results

 

Operating Highlights for the Second Fiscal Quarter Ended November 30, 2015

• Total student enrollments in academic subjects tutoring and test preparation courses increased by 35.3% year-over-year to approximately 841,000 for the second fiscal quarter of 2016.
• The total number of schools and learning centers was 720 as of November 30, 2015, an increase of 7 compared to 713 as of November 30, 2014, and a decrease of 1 compared to 721 as of August 31, 2015. The total number of schools was 63 as of November 30, 2015.

Michael Yu, New Oriental's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are pleased to see continued momentum in our overall business in the second quarter, with a 17.7% revenue growth, exceeding the high end of our expectation. It is also encouraging to see a strong deferred revenue balance of US$586.5 million at the end of the second quarter, up over 33% year-over-year. The key driver of this was our total student enrollments, which were up by 35% in the quarter. Supported by the proactive roll out of the new POP Kids program and U-Can Visible Progress Teaching system, our K-12 all-subjects after-school tutoring business achieved more than 33% year-over-year gross revenue growth. In particular, our U-Can middle and high school all-subjects after-school tutoring business grew over 35% year-over-year, and the POP Kids program grew approximately 30% year-over-year, continuing to build on the excellent performance since its launch in September 2014."

Mr. Yu continued, "As we continued to move forward with our "Optimize the Market" strategy, we opened one new school in Weifang, an emerging and populous city in eastern China. On the other hand, we closed a net of two learning centers and expanded some existing ones,  adding a total of approximately 14,000 square meters of classroom area. In the approaching winter and spring quarters, we will continue to improve the utilization rate of facilities at our existing schools and learning centers and add some capacity targeting those cities with promising growth potential, so as to meet the seasonally higher market demand for our K-12 business. Furthermore, our investment in O2O Two-way Interactive Education System in our key business lines has started to bear fruits. The new O2O education system for our K-12 after-school tutoring business contributed to our revenue growth by improving customer retention rate and bringing in new customers. With these encouraging results, we will continue to invest in building out our O2O education system for overseas and domestic test preparation businesses for the rest of the year.  Also, our pure online education platform, Koolearn.com, recorded revenue growth of over 19% year-over-year in the second quarter, with registered users up by over 192% and paid users up by over 215%.

Stephen Zhihui Yang, New Oriental's Chief Financial Officer, commented, "While we continued to invest heavily in our O2O integrated education ecosystem, we managed to improve our margin and cost efficiencies during the quarter, as evidenced by the increase in the operating margin. Looking into the second half of 2016, we will maintain our focus on cost control and improving operational efficiency. We will also continue to expand the reach of our advanced products and services across all of our business lines in China. By doing so we will be able to deliver sustainable long-term growth for our shareholders."

Financial Results for the Second Fiscal Quarter Ended November 30, 2015

Net Revenues

For the second fiscal quarter of 2016, New Oriental reported net revenues of US$278.1 million, representing a 17.7% increase year-over-year. Net revenues from educational programs and services for the second fiscal quarter were US$251.5 million, representing an 18.7% increase year-over-year. The growth was mainly driven by increases in student enrollments in K-12 after-school tutoring courses.

Total student enrollments in academic subjects tutoring and test preparation courses in the second fiscal quarter of 2016 increased by 35.3% year-over-year to approximately 841,000.

Operating Costs and Expenses

Operating costs and expenses for the quarter were US$288.5 million, representing a 16.2% increase year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating costs and expenses for the quarter, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were US$283.5 million, representing a 16.2% increase year-over-year.

• Cost of revenues increased by 17.3% year-over-year to US$134.2 million, primarily due to increases in teachers' compensation for more teaching hours.
• Selling and marketing expenses increased by 0.3% year-over-year to US$44.1 million.
• General and administrative expenses for the quarter increased by 22.7% year-over-year to US$110.1 million. Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were US$105.1 million, representing a 23.0% increase year-over-year, primarily due to increases in R&D expenses and human resources expenses related to the development of our online and offline integrated education ecosystem.

Total share-based compensation expenses, which were allocated to related operating costs and expenses, increased by 16.5% to US$5.0 million in the second fiscal quarter of 2016.

Loss from Operation and Operating Margin

Loss from operations was US$10.4 million, compared to a loss of US$11.9 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP loss from operations for the quarter was US$5.4 million, compared to non-GAAP loss from operations of US$7.6 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Operating margin for the quarter was negative 3.7%, compared to negative 5.0% in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes share-based compensation expenses, for the quarter was negative 1.9%, compared to negative 3.2% in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net Income and EPS

Net income attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was US$5.9 million, representing a 70.3% increase from the same period of the prior fiscal year. Basic and diluted earnings per ADS attributable to New Oriental were US$0.04 and US$0.04, respectively.

Non-GAAP Net Income and Non-GAAP EPS

Non-GAAP net income attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was US$10.9 million, representing a 40.5% increase from the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted earnings per ADS attributable to New Oriental were US$0.07 and US$0.07, respectively.

Cash Flow

Net operating cash flow for the second fiscal quarter of 2016 was approximately US$70.1 million. Capital expenditures for the quarter were US$11.6 million, which were primarily attributable to the opening of 20 new learning centers and renovations at existing learning centers.

Balance Sheet

As of November 30, 2015, New Oriental had cash and cash equivalents of US$524.1 million, as compared to US$525.4 million as of August 31, 2015. In addition, the Company had US$71.4 million in term deposits, US$698.9 million in short-term investment and US$247.6 million in long-term held-to-maturity investments consisting of trusts guaranteed by a bank with the maturity date more than one year from the date of purchase as of November 30, 2015.

New Oriental's deferred revenue balance, which is cash collected from registered students for courses and recognized proportionally as revenue as the instructions are delivered, at the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2016 was US$586.5 million, an increase of 33.1% as compared to US$440.7 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2015.

Financial Results for the Six Months Ended November 30, 2015

For the first six months of fiscal year 2016, New Oriental reported net revenues of US$736.6 million, representing a 16.9% increase year-over-year.

Total student enrollments in academic subjects tutoring and test preparation courses in the first six months of fiscal year 2016 increased by 22.7% to approximately 1,852,300.

Income from operations for the first six months of fiscal year 2016 was US$119.4 million, representing a 21.1% increase year-over-year. Non-GAAP income from operations for the first six months of fiscal year 2016 was US$128.2 million, representing a 21.3% increase year-over-year.

Operating margin for the first six months of fiscal year 2016 was 16.2 %, compared to 15.6% for the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes share-based compensation expenses for the first six months of fiscal year 2016, was 17.4%, compared to 16.8% for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net income attributable to New Oriental for the first six months of fiscal year 2016 was US$134.4 million, representing a 16.1% increase year-over-year. Basic and diluted net income per ADS attributable to New Oriental for the first six months of fiscal year 2016 amounted to US$0.86 and US$0.86, respectively.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to New Oriental for the first six months of fiscal year 2016 was US$143.2 million, representing a 16.5% increase year-over-year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS attributable to New Oriental for the first six months of fiscal year 2016 amounted to US$0.91 and US$0.91, respectively.

Outlook for Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2016

New Oriental expects total net revenues in the third quarter of fiscal year 2016 (December 1, 2015 to February 29, 2016) to be in the range of US$328.0 million to US$339.5 million, representing year-over-year growth in the range of 14% to 18%.

If not including the impact from the recent depreciation of Renminbi against the U.S. Dollar, the projected revenue growth rate is expected to be in the range of 20% to 24% for the third quarter of fiscal year 2016.

This forecast reflects New Oriental's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

Conference Call Information

New Oriental's management will host an earnings conference call at 8 AM on January 19, 2016, U.S. Eastern Time (9 PM on January 19, 2016, Beijing/Hong Kong Time).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

Please dial in 10 minutes before the call is scheduled to begin and provide the passcode to join the call. The passcode is "New Oriental Earnings Call."

A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following number until January 27, 2016:

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at http://investor.neworiental.org.

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 second quarter of fiscal year 2016, 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.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement New Oriental's consolidated financial results presented in accordance with GAAP, New Oriental uses the following measures defined as non-GAAP financial measures by the SEC: net income excluding share-based compensation expenses, operating income excluding share-based compensation expenses, operating costs and expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, general and administrative expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, operating margin excluding share-based compensation expenses, and basic and diluted net income per ADS and per share excluding share-based compensation expenses. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned "Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures" set forth at the end of this release.

New Oriental believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity by excluding share-based compensation expenses that may not be indicative of its operating performance from a cash perspective. New Oriental believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management's internal comparisons to New Oriental's historical performance and liquidity. New Oriental computes its non-GAAP financial measures using the same consistent method from quarter to quarter. New Oriental believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of using these non-GAAP measures is that they exclude share-based compensation charge that has been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant recurring expense in our business. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from each non-GAAP measure. The accompanying tables have more details on the reconciliations between GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures.

Contacts

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Ms. Cara O'Brien
FTI Consulting
Tel: +852-3768-4537
Email: cara.obrien@fticonsulting.com

Ms. Sisi Zhao
New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.
Tel: +86-10-6260-5568
Email: zhaosisi@xdf.cn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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SOURCE New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.