MANILA ââ¬â STI Holdings, which operates one of the largest networks of private schools in the Philippines, capped 2015 on a high note by posting an impressive P509 million in net income during the three months ending December 31, 2015.
The amount is 83 percent higher than the P277 million in net income it registered during the same period in2014, STI Holdings said in a report submitted Friday to the Philippine StockExchange.
The company also generated gross revenues of P737 million, up by 19 percent or P117 million, compared to the P619.3 million it recorded during the same period last year.
Gross profit likewise increased by P103.9 million or 24 percent year-on-year. Total assets increased to P10.2 billion as of December 31, 2015, two percent higher than P10 billion it posted as of March 31, 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 Holdingsââ¬âwhich includes STI schools,iACADEMY, STI West Negros University, and DLS STI Collegeââ¬âtook in a total of 84,764 students, representing an increase of six 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 networkââ¬â¢s Commission on Higher Education (CHED) four-year programs than the two-year programs under Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
ââ¬ÅProportion ofCHED: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,ââ¬Â STI Holdings said.
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.
ââ¬ÅThis proactive approach of theGroup resulted in the advance implementation of the Senior High School program,ââ¬Â STI Holdings said.
As such, all 77 schools in theSTI ESG network have been granted the Department of Education permit to offerSenior High School. In the current school year alone, a total of 36 STI ESG schools enrolled a total of 1,577students to its Senior High School program which offers Academic andTechnicalââ¬âVocational tracks with various specializations.
STI Holdingsââ¬â¢ performance in the last three months of 2015 contributed to the overall finances of the company for the entire nine months ending December 31, 2015.
During this period, the company generated gross revenues of P1.9 billion, up by 16 percent or P256.4 million from same period last year of P1.6 billion. Net income earned for the same nine-month period stood at P577.5 million as against the net income of P459.8 million from the same period last year.
It added that tuition and other school fees alone for the period increased by P232 million, from P1.4 billion to P1.6 billion. This is reflective of the increase in number of students and the increase in tuition.