Monday 24 December 2012

HELP International Corp.- FY12 Earnings Missed Slightly


Period    4Q12/FY12

Actual vs.  Expectations    The FY12 net profit of RM13.5m was slightly below expectations and accounted for 90.1% and 88.3% of ours and the street’s full-year earnings estimates respectively. The main reasons were due to the 1) higher depreciation and 2) higher opex charges. The group’s FY12 revenue, however, was within the street and our expectations.

Dividends   Declared a gross dividend of 2 sen/share, of which the entitlement date would be determined later.

Key Result Highlights       YoY, the FY12 revenue of RM117.1m increased by 8.3% mainly driven by a higher student enrolment in both its Damansara and Fraser Business Park campuses. The group’s EBIT margin, however, slipped to 18.3% (FY11: 20.0%) as a result of 1) higher staff costs as a result of the recruitment of more faculties with doctorate degrees and 2) a higher depreciation and amortisation charge of RM9.2m (+20.0% YoY) at the Fraser Business Park campus. Hence, the group’s FY12 net profit merely grew by 3.4% to RM13.5m due to the abovementioned reasons. 

 QoQ, the revenue improved by 18.4% to RM30.1m in 4Q12 due mainly to seasonality factors as HELP’s largest student intakes traditionally fall in the 2Q and 4Q of each financial year. In 4Q12, the group recorded a higher net profit of RM4.5m (3Q12: RM0.3m) as a result of 1) a higher revenue due to seasonality factors; 2) flattish operating expenses and 3) a lower effective tax rate of 26.8% (3Q12: 63.6%). 

Outlook   Remain intact in the long term supported by 1) the upcoming first intake of its international school students in Sep-13, which expected to contribute positively to  4Q13 earnings (est. registration fees of RM6.0m); 2) the expected start of the first intake of diploma students for its new JV campus – College of Automotive and Transportation Management in June-13 and 3) rising students enrolment in all its campuses as 10 new home-grown programmes are expected to be introduced in FY13.

Forecasts   We have nudged our SG&A expenses assumption up slightly 2.5% and 3.3% to RM80.6m and RM91.08 (vs. RM78.6m and RM88.9m  previously) for FY13E and FY14E, respectively after considering the escalating opex as a result of the increasing higher level recruitments, e.g. PhD staffs and etc. for its ongoing faculty expansion plans. As a result, our PBT margin lowered to 18.4% and 18.9% (from 19.4% and 19.5% previously) in FY13 and FY14, respectively. Our FY13E-FY14E earnings estimates were revised by 8% and 5% lower to RM16.7m and RM19.4m respectively. 

Rating  Maintain MARKET PERFORM

Valuation    We have trimmed our TP to RM1.88 (vs. RM2.04 previously) based on an unchanged FY13 PER level of 15.9x over a slightly lower FY13 EPS estimate of 11.8 sen (vs. 12.8 sen previously).

Risks   A reduction in its student enrolments.

Source: Kenanga

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