Xueda Education Group (NYSE: XUE), a leading national provider of personalized tutoring services for primary and secondary school students in China, today announced its Q3 2013 financial results for the period ended September 30, 2013. Below is the commentary made by Xueda’s CEO Xin Jin in an earnings conference call held earlier today in connection with its Q3 2013 results announcement.
“I am especially pleased today to be reporting to shareholders not only robust operating results for the third quarter but for the first time in Xueda’s history, positive net earnings results in the third quarter period. These results represent a milestone for the company. I truly believe they are the turning point in the forward momentum for the company’s ongoing growth.
As you know, the third quarter of the year, for seasonal reasons, has always been a difficult quarter for Xueda. Zhongkao and Gaokao kids have finished their exams and gone, and students are just getting scheduled with the starts of new school year routines. So our course hours delivered seasonally slowly during this period.
In the past, Xueda has always reported an operating loss in the third quarter. Lastly increasing the gains in the first two quarters of the year. Breaking from the trend, during the third quarter this year, through continued execution, our gross profit increased by 74%. Our gross margin expanded by 1000 basis points to reach 29.2% and our labor and space utilization metrics increased by 16% and 6% respectively. These are indeed robust results.
I’d like to briefly add more narrative color here. In the beginning of the year, we set profitability as our main goal for 2013. We deliberately and purposely set each managers KPIs and benchmarks to support this goal. From day one, each manager clearly has to do the focus for the year and what is expected for our team offer [ph]. As the year progresses, each chaneled their energies in a fine direction. And collectively, they produced these stellar results. These results have drive us and have positioned us now better optimize our learning center network.
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