Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for Bright Scholar's Q2 of fiscal year 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After management's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host from Piacente Financial Communications, Andrea Guo, IR Counsel for the company. Please go ahead, Andrea.

Andrea Guo (IR Counsel)

Thank you very much. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Bright Scholar's earnings conference call for the Q2 of fiscal 2025. The company's financial and operational results were released earlier today and are available online by visiting the IR section of Bright Scholar's website at ir.brightscholar.com. Please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor Provisions of the U.S. Federal Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's results may materially differ from today's views. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in the company's prospectus and other public filings as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law.

Additionally, Bright Scholar's earnings press release and this conference call included discussions of unaudited GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Bright Scholar's earnings press release contains a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures. Please also note that all numbers are in GBP. Participants on today's call will include Bright Scholar's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Robert Niu, who will provide a company overview and update on strategic initiatives with highlights from the quarter. The company's Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Cindy Zhang, will then provide details on the financial results for the period. We'll then open the call for questions. I will now turn the call over to Bright Scholar's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Robert Niu. Please go ahead, sir.

Robert Niu (CEO)

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. We are pleased to report that Bright Scholar delivered solid Q2 quarterly results, demonstrating our resilience in an evolving external environment. During the quarter, we made meaningful progress executing our Dual Engine Growth Strategy. Under this plan's dedicated initiatives, we expanded our school's business and advanced our global recruitment efforts for international students. As a result, our school's business remained consistent, with a total enrollment holding steadily year over year at 2,699 students as of March 31, 2025. Moreover, we also achieved a strong 14.2% year-over-year improvement in revenue per enrollment at our U.S. schools in this fiscal quarter. Meanwhile, our global recruitment initiatives maintain strong momentum across existing markets, building a sustainable pipeline for expansion.

As a leader in premium international education, we remain committed to delivering exceptional learning experience while enhancing operational efficiency and growing our global footprint to drive sustainable long-term value. Importantly, we've made significant strides in optimizing operations, achieving year-over-year reductions in SG&A expenses. With our established global network and the ecosystem, we are well-positioned to accelerate revenue growth and create lasting value for both customers and shareholders over the long term. The school's business remains our primary revenue source this quarter, accounting for around 61% of our total revenue. Despite microeconomic headwinds, including the impact of VAT policies in the U.K., stable student enrollment year-over-year demonstrates the resilience of our diversified portfolio by optimizing operational efficiency and maintaining rigorous academic standards with mitigated external pressures while continuing to deliver high-quality education. During the quarter, our U.S.

Schools set new benchmarks for excellence by delivering outstanding results across both academic and extracurricular domains. On the academic front, our CATS Academy Boston students have already secured over 100 acceptances from top-tier universities across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., with more expected admission cycles continuing through May 2025. This early success underscores the strength of our college prep programs. Beyond academics, we are equally proud of our students' remarkable achievements in athletics. I'm also delighted to share our own CATS Boston student athlete, Jaylen Harrell, was named as the Gatorade Massachusetts Boy's Basketball Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. This honor has previously been awarded to legends like LeBron James and Jayson Tatum, and they recognize Jalen's unparalleled talent, academic dedication, and community leadership. Back-to-back wins are exceptionally rare, cementing CATS Boston as a hub for nurturing future champions.

Furthermore, our CATS Academy Boston has been ranked number five nationally in the 2024-2025 prep programs ranking by NEprepBasketball.net, further validating our leadership in combining elite athletic programs with world-class education. Together, these achievements underscore the significant progress we've made in our U.S. schools' business this quarter and how we are fulfilling our mission to develop well-rounded global citizens. In the U.K., our schools have delivered exceptional university placement results that solidify Bright Scholar's reputation as a premium pathway to global higher education. Across our U.K. boarding schools, students have received offers from eight of the top 10 U.K. universities, according to QS 2025 ranking, including prestigious institutions like Cambridge, UCL, and Imperial College London. A significant cohort of our students has also earned offers from top 100 global universities with applications extending across Europe, Asia, and the United States.

What makes these results particularly remarkable are the perfect records we have achieved at specific schools. At St. Michael's, we maintained a flawless 100% Cambridge acceptance rate this year with all three interviewed students securing admission invitations. Similarly, CATS Cambridge has now achieved 100% Russell Group University offers for its A-level students for two consecutive years, marking an extraordinary accomplishment that puts our students in the company of the U.K.'s academic elites. These outstanding outcomes not only demonstrate our consistent ability to prepare students for the world's most competitive universities, but also validate our position as a truly global education provider capable of opening doors to top institutions across continents. In addition, our global recruitment efforts gain further traction across key markets, enhancing our pipeline for future growth. Early indicators show strong demand for our programs, particularly in markets valuing our Western curricula and university pathways.

We're also leveraging our partnership with local institutions to amplify our presence, ensuring sustainable growth in new geographies. Looking ahead, Bright Scholar remains focused on executing our Dual Engine Growth Strategy to drive excellence in our school business while expanding our global footprint in recruitment to serve more students planning to study abroad. Our strong academic results, coupled with operational resilience, position us to capitalize on the growing demand for premium international education. We are confident in our ability to deliver stronger value, stronger long-term value to students, families, and shareholders alike. With that, I will turn the call over to our CFO, Ms. Cindy Zhang, who will discuss our key financial results. Please go ahead, Cindy.

Cindy Zhang (CFO)

Thank you, Robert. Now, I'd like to discuss our financial results for the Q2 of fiscal 2025. Please note all amounts are in GBP and as otherwise stated. We are pleased to report a strong financial performance in Q2 fiscal year 2025, marked by significant improvements in profitability and operational efficiency. While maintaining stable year-over-year revenue, we achieved a 6.2% increase in our overseas study consulting business revenue, demonstrating the resilience of our diversified model. Amidst ongoing external challenges, we successfully reinforced the resilience of our global with our school business while making sustainable operational improvements. Our focused cost optimization initiatives drove a 30.7% reduction in SG&A expenses year-over-year and improved the SG&A-to-revenue ratio by 1.2 percentage points. Notably, our net income from continuing operations increased by over 2000% year-over-year.

Looking at our financial results for the second fiscal quarter in more detail, our revenue from continuing operations was $43.8 million compared with $48.5 million for the same quarter last fiscal year. By segment, our overseas study consulting revenue increased by 6.2% to $11.9 million. Schools and other revenues were $26.6 million and $5.3 million, respectively. Gross profits from continuing operations were $13.2 million compared to $15 million for the same quarter last fiscal year. Gross margin from continuing operations was 30% compared with 30.8% for the same quarter last fiscal year. Adjusted gross profit from continuing operations was $13.2 million compared with $15.1 million for the same quarter last fiscal year. SG&A expenses from continuing operations decreased by 13.7% year-over-year to $11.2 million. The decrease was mainly due to the improvement in operational efficiency in our school businesses.

Adjusted EBITDA was $3.1 million compared with $3.6 million for the same quarter last fiscal year. Now, turning to profitability, we recorded a net income of $3.2 million, increased from $0.3 million for the same quarter last fiscal year. Adjusted net income grew by 179.5% to $2.5 million compared to $1.3 million for the same quarter last fiscal year. Moving to our balance sheet, as of February 28, 2025, we have cash and cash equivalent and restricted cash of $46.3 million compared with $54.3 million as of August, as of the end of last fiscal year. In conclusion, our second fiscal quarter performance is in line with our expectations. Our proven academic outcomes, combined with strategic expansion, reinforce our confidence in delivering sustainable long-term growth. We remain committed to empowering students worldwide and creating values for all stakeholders. Okay, this concludes all our prepared remarks today.

We will now open the call to questions. Operator, please go ahead.

Operator (participant)

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. For the benefit of all participants on today's call, if you wish to ask your question to management in Chinese, please immediately repeat your question in English. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Seeing that there are no questions, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Andrea Guo for any closing remarks.

Andrea Guo (IR Counsel)

Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Bright Scholar's Investor Relations through the contact information provided on our website.

Operator (participant)

This concludes this conference call. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you.