Edvantage Group Announces FY2024 Annual Results

- Revenue increased by 17% YoY to approximately RMB2,312 million;
- Gross profit rose by 10% YoY to approximately RMB1,124 million;
- Profit for the period attributable to owners of the Company rose by 16% YoY to      approximately RMB715 million;
- Number of student enrolments increased by 11% YoY to approximately 95,600;
- Payment of a final dividend of HK10.0 cents per share;
- Dividend payout ratio of 30% for the year.

HONG KONG, Nov 29, 2024 - (ACN Newswire) - Edvantage Group Holdings Limited (“Edvantage Group” or the “Group”, stock code: 0382.HK) has announced its audited FY2024 Annual Results for the year ended 31 August 2024 (the “Reporting Period”). During the Reporting Period, the Group actively responded to national policies, vigorously promoted industry-education integration, deepened the connotations of international education, continued to introduce unique new featured majors that match market and industry demands and fully embraced artificial intelligence (“AI”), succeeding in raising education quality and brand presence, thereby achieving steady growth in performance year after year.

During the Reporting Period, the Group’s revenue totaled approximately RMB2,312 million, representing an increase of 17% as compared to the corresponding period of the preceding year. The increase was mainly attributable to the continuous enhancement of the Group’s education brand effectiveness, which drove a rise in the number of student enrolments and higher average tuition fees recorded by the Group’s domestic schools. Profit for the period attributable to owners of the Company rose by 16% YoY to approximately RMB715 million. The number of students enrolled in the Group’s schools continued to expand yearly, reaching approximately 95,600, with a year-on-year growth of approximately 11%. The Board of Directors of the Group has recommended the payment of a final dividend of HK10.0 cents per share for the year ended 31 August 2024, which, along with an interim dividend of HK9.6 cents per share, equates to a total annual dividend of HK19.6 cents per share and a dividend payout ratio of 30% for the year.

Fully embracing AI and continuously promoting the industry-education integration
Over the past year, the Group witnessed the groundbreaking development of the new generation of artificial intelligence technology. As a vocational education provider, the Group has developed in step with times, fully embracing AI in teaching, management and application. At present, all of its schools are actively promoting AI, fostering its popularity, with AI-embedded courses launched in seven colleges. Subsequent efforts will be made to promote those programmes to cover all faculties and students of all schools under the Group. Meanwhile, the Group actively responded to national policies, continuously deepened industry-education integration, and fully promoted the construction of industrial colleges, cooperating with multiple enterprises renowned in their respective industries to establish artificial intelligence and big data, digital trade, digitalised accounting and business services, research and tourism, jewelry, human resources and other industrial colleges. Those industrial colleges are all set up according to the Ministry of Education requirements for building modern industrial colleges that align with the country’s key industry development strategies, in order to nurture high-quality application-minded talent that emerging industries urgently need. In addition, the Group also entered into school-enterprise cooperation with numerous enterprises to build off-campus practice bases, further promoting the in-depth integration of education chains and industrial chains.

Expanding exchange and cooperation of international education and deepening the connotations of international education
The Group responded to the national advocacy for the opening up of education, “introduction of foreign schools”, and “international expansion of domestic schools”, continuously promoted the internationalisation of vocational education and expanded the partnership network with global renowned universities. By providing high-quality international programs and practice opportunities to students, the Group aims to cultivate innovative talents with global vision, to further raise the international influence of China’s vocational education. During the Reporting Period, the schools under the Group established in-depth cooperation with 51 foreign high schools in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Australia, joining hands to create diverse high-quality international programmes. Furthermore, the Group comprehensively launched international study tours, organising 65 student and teacher study tours to France, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Macau, China and other regions for short-term studies, with over 4,000 teachers and students participating during the Reporting Period. Looking forward, the Group will press on with deepening integration of its schools - domestic and international, strive to build a diversified international education cooperation network, actively promote Chinese vocational education to go global and build an internationally renowned Chinese vocational education brand.

Consistently increasing investment in education to build a high-quality education brand
The Group has always adhered to the motto of "Establishing school of the century, Nurturing talents of the nation". Firmly believing that increasing investment in education is an important path towards high-quality education, the Group further expanded the new campus of Guangzhou Huashang College and Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College during the Reporting Period, which includes student dormitories, library, sports centre, teaching buildings and laboratories, providing solid support for future student enrollment and sustainable development of the Group. At the same time, it has kept increasing investment in building a high-quality teaching staff, which has expanded after the Guangzhou Huashang College and Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College established their Guangdong Province Doctoral Workstation respectively. The Group has launched a series of training workshops for teachers to continuously enhance their professionalism and practical teaching abilities, encouraging them to practice what they have learned and help improve school education and teaching quality. By introducing mentors from industries, it works together with enterprises in nurturing professional “dual-qualified” teachers and “dual-skilled” industry mentors, continuing to optimize the combined structure of full-time and part-time faculty teams. The in-depth and precise investment made by the Group in various areas crucial to strengthening school management has brought bountiful results. Guangzhou Huashang College placed third in scientific research competitiveness among private undergraduate colleges in China and has been designated as a key research base for humanities and social sciences among regular higher education institutions in Guangdong Province. Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College has been named a national exemplary vocational college, while the Urban Vocational College of Sichuan ranked second in China and first in Sichuan among Shanghai Ranking's 2024 Best Chinese Private Higher Vocational Colleges. These honors are a strong testament to the Group’s high-quality educational achievements.

Looking ahead, the Group will continue to nurture innovative talent, focusing on such areas as industry and education integration, internationalization, and AI to keep up with industry and social development needs, increase investment in education, and keep building a high-quality education brand. It is committed to nurturing highly-skilled interdisciplinary corporate leaders for the country and industries around the world, while continuously making positive contributions to the sustainable development of vocational education.

About Edvantage Group Holdings Limited
Edvantage Group Holdings Limited (“Edvantage Group” or the “Group”, stock code: 0382.HK) is the largest private business higher education and vocational education group in the Greater Bay Area, and an early mover in education sector in pursuing international expansion, listed in Hong Kong Main Board on 16 July 2019. The total number of full-time student enrolments of the Group was approximately 96,000 as of 31 August 2024. Operated 9 private education institutions, namely, Guangzhou Huashang College (Applied Undergraduate), Guangzhou Huashang Vocational College (Higher Vocational Education) and Guangdong Huashang Technical School (Secondary Vocational Education) located in Guangdong Province, the PRC; Urban Vocational College of Sichuan (Higher Vocational Education) and Urban Technician College of Sichuan (Secondary Vocational Education) in Sichuan Province, the PRC; GBA Business School (GBABS) in Hong Kong, the PRC; Global Business College of Australia (GBCA) and Edvantage Institute Australia (EIA) in Australia; as well as Edvantage Institute (Singapore) (EIS) in the downtown of Singapore.

While focusing on school operations, the Group also actively fulfil corporate social responsibility, extensively contributing to social welfare programmes including charity, poverty alleviation, education and revitalisation, in order to take the initiative in repaying society through action. Since its listing, the Group has made outstanding contributions in the field of ESG and has won the “Best ESG Innovation Award” from Zhitong Finance and the “Outstanding Enterprise for ESG Innovative Practice” from Gelonghui in 2024.