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Good evening, and thank you for standing by for New Oriental's FY 2024 Third Quarter Results Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I'd now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today's conference, Ms. Sisi Zhao.
Thank you. Hello, everyone, and welcome to New Oriental's Third Fiscal Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Our financial results for the period were released earlier today and are available on the company's website as well as on Newswire Services. Today, Stephen Yang, Executive President and Chief Financial Officer, and I will share New Oriental's latest earnings results and business updates in detail with you. After that, Stephen and I will be available to answer your questions. Before we continue, please note that the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, our results may be materially different from the views expressed today. A number of potential risks and uncertainties are outlined in our public filings with the SEC. New Oriental does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. In addition, a webcast of this conference call will be available on New Oriental's Investor Relations website at investor.neworiental.org. I will now first turn the call over to Mr. Yang. Stephen, please go ahead.
Thank you, Sisi. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us on the call. We are pleased to announce that New Oriental has achieved robust growth this quarter that has surpassed our expectations. The remarkable top line performance this quarter has spoken volumes about sustained recovery across our diverse business lines, while steady expansion of our new business made healthy contributions to the company's revenue, invigorating our portfolio of innovative endeavors.
New Oriental's bottom line performance has achieved encouraging yields with operating margin and non-GAAP operating margin reaching 9.4% and 11.7% for this quarter, respectively, thanks to the combined efforts of our restructured business model, better utilized resources, and streamlined cost structure. Bolstered by vital growth across all business lines, our commitment to maintaining a healthy market share growth stands firm as we strive to create sustainable value for our customers and shareholders in the long term.
Now I would like to spend some time to talk about the quarter's performance across our remaining business lines and new initiatives to you in detail. Our key remaining business have tended a promising upward trajectory, while the new initiatives secure positive momentum. Breaking it down, the overseas test prep business reported a revenue increase of about 53% in dollar terms or 59% in the RMB terms year-over-year for the third fiscal quarter of 2024.
The overseas study consulting business reported a revenue increase of about 26% in dollar terms or 31% in RMB terms year-over-year for this quarter. The adults and university students business recorded a revenue increase of 53% in dollar terms or 60% increase in RMB terms year-over-year for this quarter. Our multipronged new initiatives, which mostly revolve around facilitating students' overall development, have continued to deliver continued growth and meaningful profit to the company. Firstly, the nonacademic tutoring courses, which we have offered in around 60 existing cities focuses on cultivating students' innovative ability and comprehensive quality. The markets we have tapped into have recorded elevated penetration, especially in higher-tier cities with a total of approximately 355,000 student enrollments reported in this quarter. The top 10 cities in China contributed over 60% of this business. Secondly, the intelligence learning system and device business, the service designed to provide a tailored digital learning experience for students to enhance learning efficiency, has been adopted in around 60 cities. We have observed enhanced customer retention rate and scalability of this new initiative business with approximately 188,000 active paid users recorded in this quarter. The revenue contribution of this initiative from the top 10 cities in China is over 55%. Our smart education business, educational material and real life smart study solutions have continued to contribute material results to the overall advancement of the company. In summary, our new educational business initiatives reported a revenue increase of 73% in dollar terms or 80% increase in RMB terms year-over-year for this quarter. In addition, as mentioned in the past quarters, we inaugurated a newly integrated tourism-related business line as one of our creative venture tailored with diverse offerings of culture trips, study tours in China and overseas, as well as camp education. New Oriental's culture tourism business shared the spirit to provide premium quality travel experience that are infused with joy from culture exchange, knowledge sharing, and personal fulfillment. Within the new business line, our study tour and research camp business for students of K-12 and university age achieved inspiring growth in this quarter. We have conducted study tours and research camp in over 50 cities across the country with the top 10 cities in China offering over 55% of revenue share of this business. We also piloted a number of top notch tourism offerings to expand our reach to all age groups, including the middle-aged and elderly individuals across 25 featured provinces. As we're still at the preliminary stage of the planning, [indiscernible] and evaluating the availability of this business in select regions, we will keep you posted should there be timely updates.
With regards to our OMO system, online merge offline system, we have persisted in revamping our platform and leverage our educational infrastructure and technology edge on remaining key business and new initiatives with the vision to provide advanced diversified education service to customers of all ages. During this reporting period, a total of $25.5 million has been invested in our OMO teaching platform, which equips us with the flexibility to maintain unrivaled service to students.
With regards to the East Buy, East Buy attempts sustainable growth momentum in this quarter, thanks to a rapid development of its private label products. As part of the ongoing expansion strategy from early ventures like East Buy, we have devoted substantial investments to support the growth of the company, including the optimization of East Buy's multi-platform strategies, supply chains, product offerings, as well as quality control to safeguard on product quality and regions. We're glad to see the East Buy has further enlarged its customer base following the latest establishment of time with [indiscernible]. In addition, further enhancements in East Buy have been made through our comprehensive organizational structure strategy hence for professional talents and app upgrades, all of which strengthened East Buy's private label products and live streaming e-commerce. The resources we committed into East Buy have thankfully nourished improved user management and loyalty, and we look forward to leverage these inputs to propel further growth of the platform that promise premium offerings and sustainable growth for our customers. With regards to the company's latest financial position, I'm confident to share with you that the company is in a healthy financial statement with cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, and short-term investments totaling approximately $4.8 billion. On July 26, 2022, the company's Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase of up to $400 million of the Company’s ADSs or common shares during the period from July 28, 2022 through May 31, 2023. The company's Board of Directors further authorized the company to extend its share repurchase program launched in July 2022 by 12 months to May 31, 2024. As of yesterday, April 23, 2024, the company repurchased an aggregate of approximately 6 million ADSs for approximately $195.3 million from open market under the share repurchase program.
Now I will turn the call over to Sisi to share with you about the key financials. Sisi, please go ahead.
Now I'd like to walk you through the other key financial details for this quarter. Operating costs and expenses for the quarter were $1,093.9 million, representing a 59.1% increase year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating cost and expenses for the quarter, which excludes share-based compensation expenses, were $1,066.4 million, representing a 60.1% increase year-over-year. The increase was primarily due to the cost expenses related to substantial growth in East Buy's private label products and live streaming e-commerce business.
Cost of revenue increased by 74.5% year-over-year to $644.8 million. Selling and marketing expenses increased by 57.1% year-over-year to $161.3 million. G&A expenses for the quarter increased by 33.6% year-over-year to $287.8 million. Non-GAAP G&A expenses, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were $273.6 million, representing a 40.7% increase year-over-year.
Total share-based compensation expenses, which were allocated to related operating costs and expenses, increased by 28.3% to $27.5 million in the third fiscal quarter of 2024. Operating income was $113.4 million, representing a 70.6% increase year-over-year. Non-GAAP income from operations for the quarter was $140.9 million, representing a 60.3% increase year-over-year. Net income attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was $87.2 million, representing a 6.8% increase year-over-year. Basic and diluted net income per ADS attributable to New Oriental were $0.53 and $0.52, respectively.
Non-GAAP net income attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was $104.7 million, representing a 9.8% increase year-over-year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS attributable to New Oriental were $0.63 and $0.63, respectively. Net cash flow generated from operations for the third fiscal quarter of 2024 was approximately $109.4 million, and capital expenditure for the quarter were $80.1 million.
Turning to the balance sheet. As of February 29, 2024, New Oriental had cash and cash equivalents of $2,013.6 million. In addition, the company had $1,570.8 million in term deposits and $1,175.3 million in short-term investments. New Oriental's deferred revenue, which represents cash collected upfront from customers, and related revenue that will be recognized as the services for goods are delivered at the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 was $1,521.7 million, an increase of 30.8% as compared to $1,163.2 million at the end of the third quarter of last fiscal year. Now I'll hand over to Stephen to go through our outlook and guidance.
Thank you, Sisi. As we progress into the fourth quarter, which is typically expected as a slower quarter comparing with the third quarter in terms of the revenue growth and profitability due to various seasonality of our key educational businesses, we place confidence in sustaining a healthy growth, building on the collective breaks of our rooted foundation, brand advantage, and differential teaching resources, our strategic focus and investment approach aimed at achieving satisfactory operating profit in the rest of the year, coupled with the year-over-year margin expansion for the full year. As always, we will work diligently to adhere to the latest guidance from the Chinese authorities on enhancing the nation's education level to strengthen its leading position to further strengthen our edge on all business lines and creative endeavors.
With regards to the learning center and classroom space, as part of the continued evolution of our offering across business lines, we plan to increase our capacity by around about 30% for this fiscal year, by which a reasonable amount of new learning centers is expected to be opened, while classroom areas of some existing learning centers will be expanded in a few major cities. Most of the new openings will be launched in the city with better top line and bottom line performance in this year. At the same time, we will continue to hire new teachers and staff to match our capacity expansion and support our revenue growth, especially for new education business initiatives and newly integrated tourism-related business. We expect total net revenue in the fourth quarter 2024, March 1, 2024 to May 31, 2024, to be in the range of $1,101.5 million to $1,127.3 million, representing year-over-year increase in the range of 28% to 31% in dollar terms. The projected increase of revenue in our functional currency, RMB, is expected to be in the range of 34% to 37% for the fourth quarter of this fiscal year 2024. To conclude, New Oriental is determined to persistently expand our existing offerings and fertilize new endeavors, dedicating strategic inputs to sharpen our capability. We will also continue to devote reasonable resources on research and application of new technologies such as AI and ChatGPT, while offering a strong belief that we could uplift our strength to favor further growth, better margin and operating efficiency. At the same time, we will also continue to seek guidance from and cooperate with the government authorities in various provinces and municipalities in China in alignment with this effort to comply with the relevant policies, regulations and measures, as well as to further adjust our business operations as required. I must say that these expectations and forecasts reflect our considerations of the latest regulatory measures as well as our current and preliminary view, which is subject to change. This is the end of our fiscal year 2024 Q3 summary.
At this point, I would like to open the floor for questions. Operator, please open the call for these. Thank you.
[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Felix Liu from UBS.
Congratulations on the strong growth and guidance. My question is on growth. So first, I understand that Q4, we will have a bit of seasonality in the education business. But maybe could you just share more color on the growth in different business segments in Q4? And also, you mentioned that the capacity expansion guidance for the year is now lifted to 30%. How do you see that capacity expansion pace going forward? Do you think 30% is a sustainable expansion that we can maybe keep for 2 to 3 years?
Thank you, Felix. Yes, as you know, we built the top line guidance this quarter a lot, just like the past couple of quarters. And as for the revenue guidance in Q4, which seems to be a little bit lower than the Q3 year-over-year revenue growth, there are 3 reasons: number one, as always, we're quite conservative to give the guidance. So this is number one. And number two, yes, as you know, Q4 is typically expected as a slower quarter compared to the Q1 and Q3. And because of the seasonality, for example, like for the K-12 related business and the overseas related business, typically, Q4 is the low season. And number 3 is, in the last year, Q4, without the impact of the pandemic, I think our business in last year Q4 was basically back to normal.
So that's why we think the Q4 top line guidance seems to be a little bit lower. But in my personal view, I think the guidance in dollar terms is 28% to 31%. In RMB terms, it's 34% to 37%. I think it is still very strong. And I think in the coming new fiscal year, that means that fiscal year '25, we're quite optimistic on revenue growth with the margin inflation for the whole fiscal year '25.
As for the expansion plan, yes, we raised the guidance of the capacity expansion by 30% year-over-year this time, because actually, we're taking market share. And I think the demand from the customers is very strong, and that's why we raised the guidance of the expansion plan again this quarter. And going forward, next year, I think we will keep almost the same pace to open the new learning centers, because we will make the analysis of the market demand and the supply. So I think we are still on the pace to take more market share. And as for the revenue growth of the different businesses, we disclose it in next con call.
Just roughly, our key business lines, like overseas related, including the test prep and consulting will grow roughly about 15% to 20% range. And domestic test prep university students business revenue growth will be around 20% to 25%. And high school tutoring will grow moderately. And the new business, new initiative, which is the key growth driver, will be over maybe 60% revenue growth. This is based on the exchange rate estimated by us when we do the projection.
Our next question comes from the line of Yiwen Zhang from China Renaissance.
So my question is regarding our margin. If we look at the group level adjusted operating margin, it was 11.7%, which was flattish on a Y-o-Y basis. I understood a lot of incremental OpEx was due to expansion. So if we just look at education related margin, how does it expand on Y-o-Y basis? And how would you expect it to trend in the next few quarters?
The group's non-GAAP OP margin was flattish in this quarter. But within the education business, I think we're seeing the meaningful GP margin and non-GAAP OP margin expansion for education business in this quarter. I think thanks to the newly business restructured model and the higher utilized resources and the better utilization for the learning centers and the streamlined cost structure, so it made the education business margin expansion again this quarter. And so going forward, I think in the coming Q4, and even for the whole year, the new year, fiscal year '25, I think we do have the operating leverage in hand. Yes, as you know, we raised the guidance of the learning center expansion by 30%, and we hired more teachers and staff to match with the new expansion. But I think the top line growth in the new fiscal year '25 will be very strong. And we do have a leverage in fiscal year '25. So we expect you will see the margin expansion with the healthy top line growth for education business in the new fiscal year '25.
And then the East Buy, yes, I think the cost of expenses, especially for the selling and marketing expenses this quarter increased. It was partly due to the East Buy's investment. And yes, I think you saw a very strong growth in top line, especially for the private label products and the e-commerce business. And I think East Buy has devoted substantial investment to support the growth of the company, including like the optimization of the multi-platform strategies in [indiscernible] and the other platform, supply chain and product offerings and quality control. And also, East Buy recruited some more of the professional talent people from the market. And so we are optimistic on East Buy's development going forward. And we look forward to leverage this investment with input this time and going forward. So in summary, the margin profile for the whole group -- so we are quite optimistic about the margin expansion for the whole group for the education business in fiscal year '25. And also as well, we do think the East Buy will generate more revenue, top line growth and more profit to the company going forward.
Our next question comes from the line of Lucy Yu from Bank of America.
So my question is still on the margins. So it looks like, judging from the minority interest, that East Buy might be loss-making for the quarter. So how should we think about the East Buy margin volatility impact on a group level in the upcoming quarter and upcoming fiscal year? So Stephen, how do you plan those margins for the next fiscal year?
Lucy, I'm glad to hear from you, your questions about the East Buy. But I'm afraid I'm unable to share with you about the latest financial results at this moment and our guidance for the East Buy. And in the next quarter, in July, I think East Buy will announce the full year report -- half year report and the full year report. And so at that time, I think the management of [indiscernible] of East Buy will share more color with you about the margins and the top line growth. Yes, but I must mention that we are still quite optimistic about the East Buy's investment in this quarter. And over the long run, I think the East Buy will bear fruit from this investment and will generate more revenue and profit to the whole group.
Our next question comes from the line of Tian Hou from TH Capital.
The question is related to the high school learning center expansion and also the nonacademic course learning center. What's the retention rate and utilization rate for both of them?
I think for the utilization rate and the student retention rate for both the high school business and the nonacademic courses [indiscernible] are still improving year-over-year -- actually quarter-by-quarter. And so the good news for us is we're seeing the trend is still there. And so going forward, I think we will see higher utilization rates for the existing learning centers and higher student retention rates.
And a couple of years ago, typically, it will spend us for 12 months to get the breakeven point after we opened the new learning center, but now, I think, roughly, it will take the happier 6 months to kind of breakeven point. And so I think going forward, we expect the higher utilization rate for learning centers and the higher student retention rate for overseas lines.
Yes. So one follow-up question. So before the double reduction, so when you guys do the learning center expansion, so there's a tricky line. So how much you do the expansion? If you do a little bit bigger, more, then will it impact the gross profit margin? So I saw this quarter, the gross profit margin relative to last year same time was down like 5 percentage points. Is that because of the learning center expansion or is it because of East Buy?
Yes. I think the learning center expansion, we raised again the learning center expansion by 30%. I think it's the result that we analyze the whole picture of this business for the last 2 to 3 quarters. And as I said, on demand side, it is very strong, especially for the nonacademic courses for the cash.
And on the competition side, the competition environment is different compared to a couple of years ago. And the key is, we only choose the top performance cities, both the top line and bottom line, to allow them to open more learning centers or expand the new classroom area for the existing learning centers. So I think it will not drag the whole margin down. In opposite, it will help the margin expansion going forward.
Our next question comes from the line of Timothy Zhao from Goldman Sachs.
My question is regarding the cash flow statement. So basically, one is on the operating cash flow. I noticed that for this quarter, I think the operating cash flow dropped a little bit on a year-on-year basis. Just wondering if you can share some color on the rationale or the reason behind that. And second, also on the financing cash flow, I do notice that the existing share repurchase program is about to expire. Just wondering regarding your capital allocation and shareholder return? Any thoughts on the shareholder policy going forward in terms of potential dividend or further share repurchase programs?
As for the operating cash flow, I suggest the investors to make the analysis of the cash flow by year-on-year, not Q-on-Q, because of the business seasonality, where the student enrollment window changes quarter-by-quarter. So that's why I suggest you all guys to make the analysis year-on-year. So if you saw the deferred revenue balance year-on-year, the increase is still very strong. Yes, that's it. And that's why we give the very strong top line guidance for Q4, yes, even though Q4 is the slow quarter, yes.
And as for the share buyback plan, yes, I think we keep to create more value to the shareholders. And I think we will keep buying the shares back. And this round, we announced the share repurchase plan roughly 2 years ago. And we finished almost half, $195 million. And I think we'll keep buying in this quarter. And in this fiscal year end, I think we will discuss with the Board to decide whether or not to extend the share repurchase plan. But historically, we made a couple of times share buybacks and several times the special dividend. So our aim is to create more value to the investors as the capital return, either share buyback or dividend.
Our next question comes from the line of Xinyi Wang from CICC.
So actually, I had a question about the financials. We saw a larger loss from equity method investments this quarter as well as less investment interest this quarter compared to the same period last year. So I'm just wondering which factors led to these changes?
I think, yes, in this quarter, we made the investor company in kind of loss in this quarter. So I think we do have a onetime impact on the very bottom line this quarter. I think that all those 2 companies was negatively impacted by the deduction policy 2.5 years ago. But this is one time. It's just a onetime.
Just a follow-up question. Also, we saw less investment interest this quarter Q-on-Q. So I'm just wondering the reason.
I'm sorry, can you repeat it again, the investment one?
Yes, as we saw less other income, which I suppose is mainly our investment interest this quarter had decreased.
Yes. I think the interest rate in China, it has been done in this quarter. So I think it impacts some interest income.
Actually, the interest income -- the absolute dollar number are similar with previous 1 to 2 quarters. Yes, so it's pretty stable.
Congrats on the results again.
[Operator Instructions] We do have one more question from D. S. Kim from JPMorgan.
Congrats on amazing top line growth again. Actually, I wanted to ask about margins and expansion. I think you already discussed all of that. Just wanted to follow up on one small thing, if that's okay. You mentioned earlier that new center expansions now could be margin accretive, because it's primarily expansion of the existing center. But if we only look at, say, newly opened locations, newly opened centers for nonacademic courses, how long do does it take for those new centers to hit breakeven and then to ramp up to the full level on the center level. I think back in the days, it took about a year to turn breakeven for the new learning center K-12 AST and another couple more quarters to fully ramp up, and I'm wondering how this has changed now versus now that the courses have changed primarily for nonacademic?
I think now, typically, on average, it will take 6 months to get a breakeven point, but for learning centers, it is even more faster. And so in the second year, typically, the margin of the new learning centers depends on the different areas. But I think the margins that new learning centers get somewhere around 15% to 20%. So it's much better. That's why we make the decision to raise the learning center expansion guidance by 30%. And so I think it's a good trade-off. In this quarter and next, in Q3, Q4, even for the whole year in fiscal year '24, we opened more learning centers, 30%, but it will drive the top line growth up in the new fiscal year '25. And I believe that for the whole education business, the whole margin of the education business will be improved in fiscal year '24, because of the better utilization and the higher student retention.
I think it's not just good, it's amazing trade-off to have. But if I may follow up here, like do you think that faster ramp-up or faster breakeven is just a timing thing, earlier recovery or earlier ramp-up in utilization and/or do you think that even after the ramp-up, the ultimate level of center level margin can be actually higher than back in the days, the academic, i.e., like on a central level, do you think that five years down the road, some of the nonacademic centers can make more than 20% margins better than the K-9 academic of the past or just the timing is all there?
Both. I said that it will take the shorter time to get to breakeven point. This is number one. And number two is, theoretically, I think the ultimate for the margin of the new learning centers, I think will be a little bit higher than a couple of years ago. So it's a good trade-off for us to open more learning centers for non-academic courses, revenue from the overseas related business.
It's an amazing trend and congrats again.
We have now approached the end of the conference call. I'll now turn the call over to New Oriental's Executive President and CFO, Stephen Yang, for his closing remarks.
Again, thank you for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of our Investor Relations representatives. Thank you.
Thank you. That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.