Earnings Labs

Sunlands Technology Group (STG)

Q4 2019 Earnings Call· Fri, Mar 27, 2020

$3.21

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Sunlands’ Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After prepared remarks by the management team, there will be a question-and-answer session. Today’s conference call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to your host today, Yingying Liu, Sunlands’ IR Director. Please go ahead.

Yingying Liu

Analyst

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining Sunlands’ fourth quarter and full year 2019 earnings conference call. On the call, our CEO, Tongbo Liu, will provide an update on our operational performance, as well as our strategic initiatives. Our CFO, Steven Yipeng Li, will give you an overview of our financial performance and also provide our guidance for the first quarter of 2020. Following their prepared remarks, we will move into the Q&A session. Before I hand it over to the management, I’d like to remind you of Sunlands’ Safe Harbor statement in relation to today’s call. Except for the historical information contained herein, certain of the matters discussed in this conference call are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current trends, estimates, and projections, and therefore, you should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. For more information about the potential risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Tongbo Liu.

Tongbo Liu

Analyst

Thank you, Yingying. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Sunlands' fourth quarter and full year 2019 conference call. Against the backdrop of macroeconomic challenges during the fourth quarter, we remain focused on attracting students to our online platform and improving engagements through a variety of strategic methods. Our fourth quarter net revenues were RMB549.7 million, in line with our guidance. We narrowed our net loss margin to 5.4% in the fourth quarter versus 32.3% in the same period last year as we continue to prudently manage costs and expenses. In the fourth quarter of 2019, we continue to focus on our multi-pronged strategy for students acquisition and retention. Our efforts centered about - around the further development and the depreciation of our products and the services through the application of big data analytics and AI technology. This has allowed us to produce significant operational benefits to both our employees and the students, facilitate our digital transformation and further strengthen our data security and the risk control capability. Next, let me provide some key specifics on the drivers of our fourth quarter performance. First, we continue developing our largest key [ph] programs, especially the master’s-oriented products to build a more well-rounded course portfolio and meet the diverse needs of our students. In 2019, the number of people entering the entrance examination for master’s program reached to 2.9 million in China, growing 21.8% year-over-year and representing the fastest growth rate in the past 10 years. Equipped with a deep understanding of the end-of-learning process, as well as solid operational track record, we have been sitting upon this mark-to-market opportunity by actively investing in master’s-oriented products, making every effort to create specialized programs and solutions. For example, we provide students with comprehensive tutoring and the training for test preparation and MBA program interviews, taught by…

Steven Yipeng Li

Analyst

Thank you, Tongbo, and hello everyone. Thanks for joining us. Our net revenues were RMB549.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 in line with our guidance. Our gross billing and new student enrollments declined at 15.5% and 22.6% respectively year-over-year, primarily as a result of slowing macroeconomic growth in China. During the fourth quarter, we continue to pursue a balanced approach to improve profitability, while executing our student acquisition strategy by focusing on streamlining our cost structures. Our administrative expenses, as well as sales and market expenses decreased by 30.9% and 10.2% respectively compared with the same quarter last year. Our cost efficiency improvement measures led to a reduction in net loss in the fourth quarter to RMB139.5 million, 24% lower compared with the loss of RMB183.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. Looking into 2020, we are optimistic that our dedication to persistent product and service upgrades will continue to bring value to our customers and ultimately our shareholders. Now let me walk you through some of the key financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2019. All comparisons are year-over-year and all numbers are in RMB. In the fourth quarter of 2019, net revenues decreased by 3.4% to RMB549.7 million from RMB568.8 million in the first quarter of 2018. The decrease was mainly due to the decrease of gross billings in 2019 compared with 2018. Cost of revenues increased by 29.3% to RMB101.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 from RMB78.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, which was primarily due to insurance premiums related to online education services with insurance coverage since late in 2018. Gross profit decreased by 8.6% to RMB448.2 million from RMB490.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. In the fourth quarter of 2019, operating expenses were…

Operator

Operator

Yingying Liu

Analyst

Once again, thank you everyone for making efforts joining today's call despite the serious coronavirus disruptions. We look forward to speaking with you again. And good day, and good night.

Operator

Operator

This concludes the earnings conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.