ATA Creativity Global - Q3 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Greetings. Welcome to ATA Creativity Global's third quarter 2023 financial results call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Alice Zhang of The Equity Group. Thank you. You may begin.

Alice Zhang (Associate)

Thank you, operator, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us. The press release announcing ATA Creativity Global's or ACG's results for the third quarter and 9 months ended September 30, 2023, is available at the IR section of the company's website at www.ata.net.cn. As part of this conference call, the company has an accompanying slide presentation available on its website. A replay of this broadcast will also be made available at ACG's website for the next 90 days. Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call and any accompanying information discussed herein contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

These forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as anticipate, believe, could, estimate, expect, forecast, future, intent, look forward to, outlook, plan, should, will, and similar terms, and include, among other things, statements regarding ACG's future growth and results of operations, ACG's plans for mergers and acquisitions generally, ACG's growth strategy, anticipated growth prospects and subsequent business activities, including initiatives and adjustments by ACG as China eases COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions, market demand for and market acceptance and competitiveness of ACG's portfolio training programs and other education services. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable as of today, those statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ dramatically from those projected. There can be no assurance that those expectations will prove to be correct.

Information about the risks associated with investing in ACG is included in the filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which we encourage you to review before making an investment decision. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, for future events, changes in market conditions or otherwise, except as required by law. Regarding the disclaimer language, I would also like to refer you to slide 2 of the conference call presentation for future information, for further information. All U.S. dollar amounts in this conference call relating to financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30th, 2023, are converted from RMB using an exchange rate of 7.2960 RMB to 1 U.S. dollar, the noon buying rate as of September 30th, 2023.

All historical conversions are accurate as of the time reported, unless otherwise noted. The company reports its financial results under US GAAP in RMB, and all percentages calculated in the presentation are based on RMB, unless otherwise noted. For those of you following along with the accompanying PowerPoint presentation, there is an overview of the company on slide 3. In addition, we're more than happy to take investor questions during today's Q&A session or via email to the company. If you wish to ask questions, you can send your questions to the email address, [email protected], and please specify whether you would like to have your name read during the Q&A session. On today's call, the company's CFO, Mr. Ruobai Sima, will provide a brief overview of operating and financial highlights for the third quarter of 2023. As Chairman and CEO, Mr.

Kevin Ma is unable to be here today due to personal reasons. Mr. Sima will join President Mr. Jun Zhang in providing an update on the company's outlook and its long-term growth strategy before opening the floor for questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to ACG CFO, Mr. Ruobai Sima. Please go ahead, Mr. Sima. Go ahead.

Ruobai Sima (CFO)

Thank you, Alice. Again, welcome everyone. Good evening to those in America, and I appreciate everyone's time. We were pleased with our solid financial performance for the third quarter 2023, reporting a 13.1% increase in net revenue. Primarily as a result of increased contribution from portfolio training and research-based learning services, as we were able to resume in-person overseas summer camp this summer for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. Revenues from research-based learning services again more than doubled from the prior year period, and we have been thrilled with the enthusiasm and positive student feedback received thus far. Increasing revenues, coupled with decreased operational expenses, enabled us to significantly narrow losses during the quarter.

Total student enrollment for third quarter 2023 were 1,093, compared to 1,106 in the prior year period. However, we did see a slight increase in enrollments in our core portfolio training programs. During the period, portfolio training credit hours delivered increase 24.1% to 44,723, with credit hours delivered for project-based programs increasing nearly 35% year-over-year. We believe this demonstrates that our students have been leveraging ACG's teaching resources more efficiently. Project-based credit hours account for 69.5% of all portfolio training credit hours delivered. During the summer, we hosted 6 overseas programs, bringing students to countries such as the UK and Japan, where they had the opportunity to explore a variety of art genres at prestigious university campuses and engaging in real-world applications.

The successful delivery of these programs have reinforced our belief that ACG is fulfilling a growing demand for overseas learning programs, and we are excited to continue presenting these opportunities to our students in the future. With that, I'll quickly review financials. Total net revenues for third quarter 2023 increased 14.1% to RMB 59.9 million, compared to RMB 52.1 million in the third quarter of 2022. This was primarily driven by increasing revenues from portfolio training and research-based learning services. Portfolio training services represented 77.5% of total net revenues during the period. Gross margin improved to 49.2% during third quarter 2023, compared to 45.1% in the prior year period.

The increase in gross margin was primarily due to increased net revenues compared to the prior year period. As a result of increased gross profit and decreased operating expenses, net loss attributed to ACG narrowed to RMB 7.3 million during the third quarter 2023, compared to RMB 12 million in the prior year period. Year-to-date results for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, net revenue increased 7.6%, RMB 138 million, from RMB 128.3 million in the prior year period. Gross margin improved to 45.1% from 42.8% in prior year period. Net loss attributed to ACG narrowed to RMB 42.2 million, compared to RMB 49.9 million, primarily due to increased revenues and decreased operating expenses.

Moving to the balance sheet, we continue to be a solid financial position with $9 million in cash and cash equivalents. Working capital deficit was $36 million, and the total shareholders' equity was $14.2 million at September 30, 2023, compared to working capital deficit of $33 million and shareholders' equity of $20.8 million respectively, at December 31, 2022. Now, turning our attention to ACG's outlook and growth strategy. We were pleased to see a positive momentum from the first half of the year continued into the second half of the year, with the encouraging operating results coming from our core portfolio training services business.

As a result, ACG achieved a solid 14.1% increase in total net revenues, improved gross margin, and significantly narrowed losses during the third quarter of 2023. Our sales results during the period indicates that students remain interested and initiating and continuing their arts educations, and have chosen ACG as their trusted institution to guide and support them as they make their way along their creative journeys. During this quarter, ACG also reported positive cash flow from operations, which increased our cash and cash equivalents by 19.1% to RMB 65.5 million. Total portfolio training credit hours delivered increased by 24.1% in third quarter 2023, with the number of students enrolled increasing from 616 to 651 year-over-year.

We continue to view portfolio training as our primary line of business, which serves as the main channel, through which currently enrolled students can take part in value-added services to further enrich their creative education experience. This includes our experiential learning offerings and the research-based learning services, overseas study counseling, and so on. All of these services together offers a comprehensive experience for students who are working towards completing their personal portfolios and planning to apply to other arts institutions. We successfully hosted a total of 11 in-person summer programs during third quarter 2023, 6 overseas and 5 domestic. We were excited to bring these offerings back in this year, and given the tremendous and positive reception, we look forward to plan and execute more overseas research-based learning programs in the future, providing attractive and relevant learning programs on a variety of art topics.

As we enter the 2023-2024 academic year and start to prepare for the upcoming application season, we are thrilled to announce preliminary admission results for students that submitted applications in 2023. Thus far, ACG students have received offers from prestigious institutions worldwide.

...from both art focused and non-art focused universities in 2023, including MIT, Harvard, University of Oxford, as well as Rhode Island School of Design and Royal College of Art. We are incredibly proud of all the hard work our students have put in to yield these impressive results, and we are grateful to have been a part of their journey. We remain committed to serving students and enable these types of positive education and career outcomes for those wishing to pursue overseas study. I'd now like to hand the floor over to Jun Zhang, ACG's President, to provide an update on our current growth initiatives. Jun will make his remarks in Mandarin, which will be followed by an English translation. Jun, please go ahead.

Jun Zhang (President)

Thank you, Sima. 2023, for ACG, is a year with important significance. As China and other regions of the world gradually enter the post-pandemic era and restore normal operating environments, our business has also established some positive momentum. We have fully resumed in-person classes at all campuses and, for the first time since 2022, launched overseas summer projects, bringing more than 100 students to different countries, allowing them to gain immersive experiences in the study and application of creative arts. ACG is proud of the quality of our academic courses and the support provided from a professional perspective. We will continue to explore ways to collaborate with more institutions and enterprises, providing different opportunities to help students hone their skills and utilize these skills in practice.

In the remaining time of 2023, we will launch regular online master classes and other experiential projects. For students who wish to gain some professional experience, we are launching the famous enterprise experiential project. Through this project, students will personally participate in plans of globally renowned enterprises. Participating students will have opportunities to engage in and contact various positions, covering architecture design, game design, interactive design, fashion design, etc. Students will gain world-class enterprise work experience and recommendation letters that can assist their university applications. We believe that the project format of letting students actually participate and become part of the professional teams of renowned companies can well provide students with practical experience.

This October, we also conducted our annual Shanghai Fashion Week project, providing students with Fashion Week VIP tickets, as well as internship opportunities at Chinese artist brands participating in Fashion Week. Selected students can experience the show backstage and order fairs, collaborating with marketing and brand teams. We believe that this kind of experience is crucial for students interested in fashion design and fashion brand operations. We are also very pleased that participating students received positive feedback from the brands they collaborated with. Soon we will enter the busy season of submitting admission applications again. At ACG, we strive to provide first-class support to students in their respective art fields and admission processes. For many of our students, this is a key period.

Seeing our teaching staff closely communicate and collaborate with them, ultimately determining and perfecting their portfolios, is an exciting thing. As Sima mentioned, our students have already received admission notices from numerous prestigious schools. We look forward to helping the next class of students achieve similar success in 2024. Over the years, we have been committed to becoming the leader in China's creative education industry.

Our capabilities stem from a deep understanding and continuous monitoring of market and academic trends, from an experienced and high-performing education team, from our continuous efforts in forming and maintaining cooperative institutional partner relationships. In addition, we focus on providing internally rich, relevant, high-quality products. We believe these products are the core of our business growth. We will continue to be committed to cultivating, providing products that cultivate the younger generation's appreciation and enlightenment of art, and continue to explore how to provide services to more students with different needs in creative art learning. Next, hand over to Sima.

Alice Zhang (Associate)

Thank you, Mr. Jun. 2023 has been an important year for ACG. We have been able to build some positive momentum in our business as China and the rest of the world continue to operate in a post-pandemic near-normal type of environment, which enabled us to fully resume in-person instruction at our network of training centers and offer our overseas summer programs for the first time since 2020, bringing more than 100 students to various countries of interest and allowing them to receive an immersive experience in creative arts study and application. ACG prides itself not only on the quality of its academic programming, but also on the support it provides from professional development perspective.

We continue to explore ways in which we can cooperate with more institutes and firms that can help provide students with various opportunities to hone their skills and utilize them in real world scenarios. In the remainder of 2023, we have a regular online masterclass program lined up along with other experiential offerings. For students looking to gain some professional experience, we're introducing a part-time assistant PTA program, through which to work with global well-established brands on real world projects in an engaging environment. Participating students will have the opportunity to work and support various positions, covering architecture, design, game design, interaction design, fashion design, and so on. Students will walk away with world-class company working experience, as well as reference letter that will improve their college application competency.

We believe programs like this are critical in providing students with hands-on experience by being part of a real-world professional team at reputable companies. This October, we also held our annual Shanghai Fashion Week program, providing students with Fashion Week VIP tickets and an opportunity to intern at Fashion Week with Chinese artist brands. Selected students were able to experience the runway backstage and order placement meetings, as well as working with marketing and branding teams. We believe this kind of experience is crucial for students interested in a career in fashion design and fashion brand operations, and we're pleased that participating students received positive feedback from the brands they worked with. We're soon be entering a business season of application submission for many schools. At ACG, we strive to provide our students with the best-in-class support in their respective art field, as well as during the admission process.

It is a critical time for many of our students, and watching our teaching staff working closely with them to finalize and perfect their portfolios have been truly exciting. As Mr. Sima mentioned, our students have received tremendous success with offers from a number of renowned schools worldwide, and we look forward to helping this next class of students garner similar success in 2024. For years, we have worked to become a leading player in China's creative arts education industry. Our competency stems from a deep understanding and constant monitoring of the market and academic trends, an experienced teaching team with a proven track record, and our continuous efforts in forming and maintaining our institutional partner network. On top of these capabilities, we're focused on providing relevant, high-quality offerings that are substantial in content, which we believe lies at the center of our business growth.

We remain committed to offering products that cultivate and nurture the appreciation and enlightenment of arts of the younger generation, and continue to explore ways to serve a growing base of students with diverse needs in creative arts study. With that, I'll turn it back over to Mr. Sima.

Ruobai Sima (CFO)

Thanks, Jun and Alice. We look forward to concluding 2023 on a strong note. We remain focused on providing our students with carefully curated class offerings and believe we are in a position where we can execute our growth strategy by leveraging our advantages. With that, operator, let's open it up for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset well before pressing the star keys. One moment while we pull for questions. As a reminder, it is star one on your telephone keypad if you would like to ask a question. There are no questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Sima for closing remarks.

Ruobai Sima (CFO)

Okay, thank you, operator, and thanks again to all of you for joining us. If anyone has questions for us, please feel free to reach out directly to us and, or our investor relations firm and The Equity Group. We are always available to speak to investors, and look forward to speaking with you all during the fiscal 2023 earnings calls. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.