STI nets P624M

Private school chain operator STI Holdings’ net profit in the nine-month period ending December 2016 grew by 18.3 percent year-on-year to P624.3 billion as higher enrolment rate boosted revenues to a record high.

Defying the lackluster market, STI shares rose by 9.91 percent to close at P1.22 per share on Tuesday. It was among the most actively traded companies at the stock market.

STI posted record-high P2.1 billion in revenues for the nine-month period, up by 15 percent from the same period last year. The higher revenues were attributed to the big increase in enrolment for school-year 2016-2017, breaching the 100,000-mark. Student population expanded by 22 percent to 103,727 for the school-year.

But for the quarter ending December alone, net profit eased to P81.37 million from P189.06 million a year ago. While revenues from tuition fees and other school fees rose by 10 percent year-on-year during the quarter to P724.57 million, STI booked P197.6 million as share in net losses of associates. In its regulatory filing, STI explained that “additional impairment loss on available-for-sale financial assets held by an associate was also recognized for the three-month period this year as compared to same period last year.”

STI group manages a total of 76 schools, 37 of which are owned and 39 are franchised.

With the completion of new facilities for STI Las Pinas in July 2016, STI said its total student capacity was now at 119,191.

Since bulk of its earnings come from education services, STI follows an April to March fiscal year to mirror the academic cycle in the country.