Earnings Labs

Sunlands Technology Group (STG)

Q4 2021 Earnings Call· Fri, Apr 8, 2022

$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 2021 Earnings Conference Call. Today’s conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host today, Yuhua Ye, Sunlands’ IR Representative. Please go ahead.

Yuhua Ye

Management

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining Sunlands’ fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings conference call. The company’s financial and operating results were issued in our press release via newswire services earlier today and are posted online. You can download the earnings press release and sign up for our distribution list by visiting our IR website. Participants on today’s call will be our CEO, Mr. Tongbo Liu; and our CFO, Selena Lu Lv. Management will begin with prepared remarks and the call will conclude with a Q&A session. Before I hand it over to the management, I would 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 statement. For more information about potential risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With that, I would now turn the call over to our CEO, Tongbo Liu.

Tongbo Liu

Management

Thank you, Yuhua. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Sunlands fourth quarter and full year 2021 conference call. The year 2021 was full of uncertainties on both the macro and education industry levels, given these challenges we strengthened our focus on healthy steady growth to overcome obstacles that are prepared to capture opportunities ahead of us. More specifically, we strived to streamline our operations with a leaner organization and a disciplined cost control measures, continue to optimize our products mix to concentrate on demand global markets and spend efforts on improving services and acquiring students in a more efficient manner. As a result of our clear strategic plan and a steadfast execution, we are delighted to close 2021 with record high net profit of RMB115.8 million in the fourth quarter and RMB212.4 million for the full year, delivering on our commitment to balanced growth and profitability. Our improved profitability amidst the year-over-year moderation in gross billings and new student enrollments well reflects the effectiveness of our strategic direction and execution excellence. Now let’s turn to the performance of each of our major course programs. In terms of -- in professional certification and the skills programs, we believe there is still huge market potential on the demand side. On one hand, we have demand from working professionals who not only seek to stay competitive through job relevant or credential courses, but also increasingly take courses to complement their primary skills and develop new interests and hobbies. On the other hand, these programs are also attracting students from a wide range of age groups who are looking for interest-based learning as part of a new lifestyle. To have these potential, we continue to focus on developing a diverse range of courses to fulfill the ongoing interest or robust learning demand during the fourth quarter.…

Selena Lu Lv

Management

Thank you, Tongbo. Hello, everyone. We are excited to register net income of RMB150.8 million in the fourth quarter, compared to the net loss of RMB73.5 million for the same period last year, marking our third consecutive quarter of profitability. This solid performance was driven by our 0.7% year-over-year topline growth and the 14.5% year-over-year decline in operating expenses, due to our expense and expense management practices. Our net profit margin expanded significantly to 25.6% in the fourth quarter, up 38.2% -- a percentage points year-over-year and a 10 percentage points quarter-over-quarter. Looking ahead, we are steadfast in our commitment to offering premium course content and services to our students, while adopting effective measures to further reduce costs and boosting operating efficiency aiming to achieve long-term sustainable growth. Now let me walk you through some of our key financial results for the fourth quarter 2021. All comparisons are year-over-year and all numbers are in RMB unless otherwise noted. In the fourth quarter, our net revenue was RMB588.9 million, an increase of 0.7% year-over-year. Costs of revenues decreased by 8.6% to RMB89.4 million in the first quarter from RMB97.8 million in the first quarter of 2020. The decrease was primarily due to; number one, declined compensation expenses related to our cost of revenues personnel; and number two, reduced insurance related costs incurred for our integrated online education service package purchased by students. Gross profit increased by 2.6% to RMB499.5 million from RMB486.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. In the fourth quarter, operating expenses were RMB400.5 million, representing a 40.5% decrease from RMB673.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Sales and marketing expenses decreased by 44.2% to RMB339.4 million in the fourth quarter from RMB608.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. The decrease was mainly due to lower…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] : :

Operator

Operator

I am showing no further questions. This will conclude our question-and-answer session. At this time, I’d like to turn the conference back over to Yuhua Ye, IR Representative for any closing remarks. Yuhua, the like is open for you to -- for your closing remarks.

Yuhua Ye

Management

Once again thank you everyone for joining today’s call. We look forward to seeing with you again soon. Good day and good night.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes the earnings conference call. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful day.