China New Higher Education Group Announces Results for FY2019

Strong Organic Growth with Student no. increased by 72%

Total income increased by 34% to RMB 730 mn

(29 March 2019, Hong Kong) China New Higher Education Group Limited (“New Higher Education Group”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”; stock code: 2001.HK) is pleased to announce the consolidated annual results for the year ended 31 December 2018.

 Financial Overview

 nTotal revenue amounted to RMB728 million, up 34.0% yoy

nGross Profit amounted to RMB286 million, up 25.9% yoy

nEBITDA amounted to RMB439 million, up 34.2% yoy

nAdjusted net profit increased 20.3% to RMB285 million, adjusted net profit margin of 39.2%

nProposed final dividend of RMB0.019 per share (HK$0.0222), combined annual dividend of RMB0.046 per share (HK$0.0532).

Operation Overview

nLeading organic growth among peers, total student enrollment no. of the four schools established or invested before IPO growed 15.0% averagely

nTotal student enrollment no. reached 93,548 in 2018/19 academic year, compared to 54,290 in 2017/18 academic year, increased by 72.3% y/y (including newly invested schools)

“In 2018, the Group steadily embarked on a new journey of another round of entrepreneurship. Listed for around 2 year, with the support of investors and stakeholders, we have braved the storms and faced the world in the capital market and have taken solid steps on the new journey.” Founder of the Company and Chairman of the Board Mr. Li Xiaoxuan said.

Benefiting from our cross provinces expansion and pro-investment consolidation capability, total student enrollment no.of the Group, both organic and inorganic, maintaining strong growth trend. We have accumulated years of collectivized school operation experience, enabling us successfully entering into 7 provinces, with the widest footprint. The new schools have achieved remarkable improvement.

Financial Analysis

Looking back, the Group’s revenue increased 35.5% to RMB562 million. Tuition fee income increased 34.6% to RMB512 million, reflecting the increased in both student no. and tuition fee. Boarding fee increased 45.3% to RMB49 million reflecting the increased in both student no. and boarding fee.

Gross profit increased by 25.9% to RMB286 million y/y. The gross profit margin decreased to 51.0% from 54.9%, primarily due to the the increase in the Group’s teaching investment, improve student's experiences and the consolidation results from new schools.

Adjusted net profit increased 20.3% to RMB285million y/y, excluding the impairment allowance made for prepayment included in other non-current assets.

Cash on hand

As at the end of 2018, the Cash on hand of the Group amounted to RMB413 million.

Capital Expenditures

For the year ended 31 December 2018, our capital expenditures were RMB415 million, including the construction of buildings and school facilities at the new campus, prepaid rental for the land lease and purchase of equipment and software by the schools of the Group.

Business Review

On 31 December 2018, the Group operated and invested 6 higher education institutes in six

provinces in mainland China with nationwide student enrollment coverage. Our students attended 84 general undergraduate majors and 76 general junior college majors. Total student no. reached 93,548, representing an increase of 72.3% (excluding Gansu College). Furthermore, the Group has applied to be a joint school sponsor of Gansu College and is expected to complete its new campus relocation in September 2019.

Job-oriented nurturing model

As of 31 December 2018, 1,211 students had participated in the Group’s excellent apprenticeship training. The starting salary of the 2017 fresh graduates from the College of Excellence at Yunnan School is RMB5, 601 per month, which is way above market standard, and its employment rate is 100%.

Integration of Industry and Education, Cooperation between Schools and Enterprises

For the schools under the Group, they established a profound school-corporate cooperation with many well-known companies including Microsoft, Huawei, Alibaba, Lenovo, Jingdong, Midea, Gree, Geely, 360, Tedu, iFlytek, China Union, Chinasoft International, Newland Group and Travelsky Group. They jointly carry out talents training through many cooperative models such as teaching sharing, course resources sharing, construction of experimental training bases, joint construction of majors as well as college co-found.

Future Prospect

Education Policy Trend

Recently, the PRC government promulgated the “National Vocational Education Reform Implementation Plan”（國家職業教育改革實施方案）, which not only puts vocational education on the equal position as ordinary education on the top-level design, but also clarifies the direction of social diversified school establishment, and once again strengthens the policy of encouraging private education. The plan has opened up more development room for private vocational education, especially for those higher education groups (such as China New Higher Education) which has both undergraduate colleges focusing on applied sciences with vocational colleges. The plan not only has demonstrated the correctness of the strategic choice of applied education, but also provides guidance for future development of school establishment.

The promulgation of a series of policies and documents such as “China Education Modernization 2035”（《中國教育現代化2035》）and “Accelerating the Implementation Plan of Education Modernization (2018-2022)”（《加快推進教育現代化實施方案(2018-2022年）》）shows that private higher vocational education has become an important part of the national education strategy. Relying on encouragement, guidance and standardized supervision of the PRC, more development opportunities will be emerged in the private education sector, but also face more demands and expectations from the national and public levels in improving their own development standards. In addition, in the government work report, it is mentioned that it will further reform and improve the examination and enrollment methods for higher vocational colleges and expand additional one million students enrollment this year, which reflect the determination of the State to promote the development of vocational education. All higher vocational colleges will directly benefit therefrom, especially the schools with brand and competitive advantages will have greater development opportunities.

Development strategy of “Improvement, Enlargement, Light Assets”

It is our primary task to improve quality, including improving talent training capability focused on applied science and driving the overall quality improvement. Secondly, we will enlarge income base and enhance the utilization rate of schools under the Group, focus on traditional principal business, expand the sectors for external income and enlarge the income from our principal and secondary businesses, optimize expenditure structure to cut down operating costs. Thirdly, we will adopt light assets approach, adjust and optimize its structure and integrate resources comprehensively, and at the same time, lower capital expenditure and improve the capability of light assets and strong management.

Investment Strategy

The Group intends to expand its school network and increase market penetration and market share in the vocational higher education sector. The Group’s investment team has rich investment experience and has identified certain targets for potential quality acquisitions. The Group gives priority to invest in those provinces with lower gross higher education enrollment rates and gradually penetrates into education developed regions. In terms of education level, the Group focuses on undergraduate school especially independent colleges as our main target and vocational colleges with potential expansion as the support. The Group plans to use reproducible teaching models to optimize operation management to schools that we newly invested, so as to enhance educational leven and financial returns.

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About China New Higher Education Group Limited

China New Higher Education is a leading private formal higher education group in China with nearly 20 years of education industry experience, specializing in providing higher education which focuses on applied sciences. The Group endeavors to help each student maximize his or her potential and live his or her life to the fullest. The Group’s fundamental educational philosophy is mainly composed of two integral parts: (i) to nurture the growth of students, and provide education tailored to each student’s individual needs and circumstances; and (ii) to equip students with practical and readily applicable skills that meet market demand. The Group currently operates and invests in six schools across six provinces in mainland China with nationwide student enrollment coverage. Furthermore, the Group has applied to be a joint school sponsor of Gansu College and is expected to complete its new campus relocation in September 2019.

The Group provides high quality higher education in a wide selection of fields in applied sciences. Its courses are designed to equip students with practical and readily applicable skills, helping to prepare them for job market. It achieved industry-leading graduate employment rates, with over 98% of its graduates from 2013 to 2015 by the end of their year of graduation, according to Frost & Sullivan. The Group has been included as a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Composite Small Cap Index and the Hang Seng Consumer Goods & Services Index in the Hang Seng Composite Index Series in August 2017, and has been included as a constituent stock of the MSCI China Small Cap Index in November 2017 and included as a constituent stock of Shenzhen and Hong Kong Stock Connect in March 2018.