Tanco-led STI Holdings, operator of one of the country’s biggest chain of private schools, grew net profit attributable to equity holder of parent firm in the six-month period ending September by 59.7 percent year-on-year to P535 million as its student population expanded.
For the third quarter alone, STI’s net profit rose by 76 percent year-on-year to P522.53 million. This was largely due to the 22 percent increase in enrolment which translated to a 24 percent increase in gross revenues mostly from tuition and other school fees. Equity in net earnings of associates and joint ventures also increased by 118 percent compared to same period last year.
For the six months ending September, STI generated about P1.29 billion in revenues, an improvement of 15 percent compared to the level in the same period last year.
Since bulk of its income comes from its education services, STI follows an April to March fiscal year mirroring that of an academic cycle in the Philippines.
In the schoolyear 2016 – 2017, STI’s student population expanded to 103,727 compared to 84,730 enrollees in the previous school year.
The growth in enrollment was attributed to the network’s K to 12 program, where a total of 39,206 senior high school students enrolled in educational institutions operated by STI Education Services Group (STI ESG), Information and Communications Technology Academy (iACADEMY), and STI West Negros University (STI WNU).
Senior high school enrollees comprised 38 percent of total student population. Those taking up courses accredit by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) accounted for 56 percent of enrollees while students taking up Technical Education and Skills Development Authority-sanctioned courses made up 5 percent.
“The growth in its financial bottom line and enrollments represents the aggressive move of STI Holdings to expand its education services all over the archipelago,” the company said in a press statement.
Last July, STI ESG completed the construction of new facilities for STI Las Piñas. This, in effect, increased STI ESG’s total nationwide student capacity to 119,191 students, with 73,413 pertaining to owned schools and 45,778 for franchised schools.
Last April, CHED granted iACADEMY a government authority to operate as a transnational education provider for the Master in Business Administration (MBA) program in partnership with De Paul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA, as the degree granting institution.
iACADEMY is a school in Makati that specializes in the field of computing, business and design and is known for its design programs in animation and multimedia arts. It began offering senior high school this year and seeks to offer more specialized courses centered on design, technology and transnational education including its recent partnership to offer an MBA Program with DePaul University.