Phinma Education to expand in underserved areas

MANILA  -The education arm of Del Rosario family-led conglomerate Phinma Corp. is pushing deeper into underserved areas in the Philippines to sustain growth amid the continued rebound for schools during the postpandemic period.

Phinma Education announced the opening of new facilities such as Phinma COC Iligan Campus, Phinma Araullo University San Jose Campus in Nueva Ecija, and a Dentistry building in Southwestern University Phinma in Cebu.

It said the construction of the Phinma University of Pangasinan is also underway.

“This year is a convergence of our model continuing to show promise, the growing need for the services we provide, and our business doing well on all aspects,” Phinma Group president and chief operating officer Meliton “Chito” Salazar Jr. said on Thursday.

“We hope to be able to reach more and more underserved students who need quality education the most, so that they can uplift themselves, their families, and communities,” he added.

The group, which also invests in schools in Indonesia, is ramping up domestic expansion given buoyant prospects in the education business.

Phinma Education said the sharp increase in enrollments pushed up revenues during the first semester of 2023 by 52 percent versus the same period in 2022.

Moreover, net income tripled to P307.5 million during the first six months of the year.

“Increase in costs and operating expenses to support the increase in enrollment and face-to-face classes were offset by lower credit loss provisions as a result of higher collection efficiencies,” the company said.

Phinma Education spans 10 schools serving over 124,000 students. Education quality also remains high with a 79.06 percent passing rate for first-time takers across various licensure exams.

It added that 71 percent of its graduates were employed within one year of graduation.

Phinma Education is part of Phinma Corp., a diversified conglomerate with interests in construction materials, property development and hotels.

During the first semester of 2023, Phinma Corp. saw core profits increase 3.8 percent to P482.1 million. Total revenues during the period climbed 3 percent to P8.9 billion.

The group ended the period with total assets of nearly P33 billion and stockholders’ equity of P11 billion, a previous filing showed.