STI Holdings Three-month Profit Up 83%
Manila—(PHStocks)—STI Holdings (PSE: STI), which operates one of the largest networks of private schools in the Philippines, capped 2015 on a high note by posting an impressive PhP509 million net income during the three months ending 31 December 2015. The amount is 83% higher than the PhP277 million in net income it registered during the same period in 2014.
The company also generated gross revenues of PhP737 million, up by 19% or PhP117 million, compared to the PhP619.3 million it recorded during the same period last year.
Gross profit likewise increased by PhP103.9 million or 24% year-on-year. Total assets increased to PhP10.2 billion as of 31 December 2015, 2% higher than PhP10 billion it posted as of 31 March 2015.
STI Holdings said the increase was mainly due to the increase in the number of students. In the school year 2015-2016, educational institutions owned by STI Holdings—which include STI schools, iACADEMY, STI West Negros University, and DLS STI College—took in a total of 84,764 students, representing an increase of 6% percent compared to the 80,200 who enrolled in the previous school year.
Enrollment mix was more favorable in 2015 than in 2014, as students leaned more towards getting STI network’s Commission on Higher Education (CHED) four year programs than the two-year programs under Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Proportion of CHED:TESDA:DepEd students are 85:12:03 for school year 2015-2016 as against 81:16:03 for school year 2014-2015. The four-year CHED programs charge higher tuition and bring in more revenue per student.
The company managed to attain notable growth despite the looming threat of the K to 12, which was supposed to result in the decrease in college freshmen enrollments as the program entails an additional two years of senior high school.
In fact, STI Education Services Group (STI ESG) managed to constructively turn this challenge into opportunity by coming up with a first-to-market approach of offering Senior High School (SHS) program nationwide. This proactive approach of the Group resulted in the advance implementation of the Senior High School program.
As such, all 77 schools in the STI ESG network have been granted the Department of Education permit to offer Senior High School. In the current school year alone, a total of 36 STI ESG schools enrolled a total of 1,577 students to its Senior High School program which offers Academic and Technical-Vocational tracks with various specializations.
STI Holdings’ performance in the last three months of 2015 contributed to the overall finances of the company for the entire nine months ending 31 December 2015.
During this period, the company generated gross revenues of PhP1.9 billion, up by 16% or PhP256.4 million from same period last year. Net income earned for the same nine-month period stood at PhP577.5 million.
It added that tuition and other school fees alone for the period increased by PhP232 million to PhP1.6 billion, up from PhP1.4 billion. This is reflective of the increase in number of students and the increase in tuition.