Vancouver, B.C., April 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- CIBT Education Group Inc. (TSX: MBA, OTCQX International: MBAIF) ("CIBT" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has filed on SEDAR its consolidated financial statements and related management's discussion and analysis for its second quarter of fiscal 2020 ending February 29, 2020 (collectively, the "Q2 Filing"). The following is selected financial information for the second quarter of fiscal 2020 ended February 29, 2020 ("Q2 2020") and comparative results. Please refer to the Q2 Filing in its entirety, which is available under CIBT's profile at www.sedar.com.
All figures are in thousands of Canadian dollars except share and per share data unless otherwise noted.
| Six months ended February 29, 2020 | Six months ended February 28, 2019 | Dollar change | Percentage change | ||||
| Total revenues | $ | 32,911 | $ | 32,621 | $ | 290 | 1% |
| Educational revenues – SSCC | $ | 18,651 | $ | 16,931 | $ | 1,720 | 10% |
| Educational revenues – SSLC / VIC | $ | 5,156 | $ | 5,958 | $ | (802) | (13)% |
| Educational revenues – CIBT China | $ | 1,455 | $ | 1,486 | $ | (31) | (2)% |
| Design and advertising revenues – IRIX | $ | 522 | $ | 461 | $ | 61 | 13% |
| Commissions and referral fees – GEA | $ | 166 | $ | 424 | $ | (258) | (61)% |
| Rental revenues – GECH | $ | 6,408 | $ | 5,589 | $ | 819 | 15% |
| Development fees – GECH and Corporate | $ | 553 | $ | 1,772 | $ | (1,219) | (69)% |
| Other operating expenses | $ | 16,215 | $ | 17,491 | $ | (1,276) | (7)% |
| Finance costs | $ | 4,030 | $ | 3,313 | $ | 717 | 22% |
| Gain on change in fair value of investment properties | $ | 6,173 | $ | 8,100 | $ | (1,927) | (24)% |
| Other income (expense), net | $ | (320) | $ | 106 | $ | (426) | (402)% |
| Income before income taxes | $ | 4,517 | $ | 5,700 | $ | (1,183) | (21)% |
| Net income | $ | 4,359 | $ | 5,394 | $ | (1,035) | (19)% |
| Income per share – CIBT shareholders - basic | $ | 0.05 | $ | 0.01 | $ | 0.04 | 400% |
| Income per share – CIBT shareholders - diluted | $ | 0.05 | $ | 0.01 | $ | 0.04 | 400% |
| EBITDA [Non-IFRS] | $ | 9,305 | $ | 10,043 | $ | (738) | (7)% |
| | February 29, 2020 | August 31, 2019 | Dollar change | Percentage change | |||
| Total assets | $ | 450,307 | $ | 389,670 | $ | 60,637 | 16% |
| Total liabilities | $ | 260,693 | $ | 195,516 | $ | 65,177 | 33% |
The following reconciles the net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA (non-IFRS):
| Three Months Ended | Six Months Ended | ||||
| February 29 | February 28 | February 29 | February 28 | ||
| 2020 | 2019 | 2020 | 2019 | ||
| ($) | ($) (3) | ($) | ($) (3) | ||
| Net income – Continuing operations | 4,158 | 3,206 | 4,359 | 5,394 | |
| Deduct: interest income (1) | (776) | (20) | (1,543) | (38) | |
| Add: interest expense (3) | 1,835 | 1,595 | 4,320 | 3,304 | |
| Add: income tax provision | 146 | 429 | 158 | 306 | |
| Add: depreciation and amortization | 1,022 | 544 | 2,011 | 1,077 | |
| EBITDA [non-IFRS] (2), (3) | 6,385 | 5,754 | 9,305 | 10,043 | |
| Deduct (gain) on changes in fair value of investment properties | (6,421) | (5,000) | (6,173) | (8,100) | |
| Deduct (gain) on derivatives, net | (443) | - | (290) | - | |
| Adjusted EBITDA [non-IFRS] (2) , (3) | (479) | 754 | 2,842 | 1,943 | |
(1) Interest income not associated with operations.
(2) The application of IFRS 16 results in higher EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA. See Q2 2020 MD&A, section Adoption of New Accounting Standards, for impact.
(3) For the three months ended February 28, 2019, previously reported EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA was $5,554 and $554, respectively. For the six months ended February 28, 2019, previously reported EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA was $9,596 and $1,496, respectively. Previous presentation of interest expense did not include accretion of deferred finance fees.
Please refer to the note at the end of this news release concerning non-IFRS financial measures.
Highlights for the six-month period ended February 29, 2020, compared to the comparative prior year period, are as follows and expressed in thousands of Canadian dollars except for per share data:
- Revenues from Sprott Shaw College increased from $16,931 to $18,651, and the earnings before inter-segment transactions increased from $1,447 to $1,936 over the same period in the prior year.
- Rental revenues increased from $5,589 to $6,408, and the earnings before inter-segment transactions increased from $4,677 to $5,987 over the same period in the prior year.
- Net income decreased from $5,394 to $4,359, mostly due to the timing of recognition of development fee revenues, which varies dependent on the timing of development of real‐estate projects and earnings from the various subsidiaries fluctuated during the quarter.
- EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization) was $9,305 as compared to $10,043 over the same period in the prior year.
- Total assets increased from $389,670 to $450,307 in the six months ended February 29, 2020.
- Earnings per share increased by 400% to $0.05 per share over the same period in the prior year.
“In Q2 2020, we were pleased to see that our largest education subsidiary, Sprott Shaw College, saw revenues increase while earnings before inter-segment transactions also increased over the same period in the prior year. In addition, rental revenues continued to be our fastest area of revenue growth,” commented Toby Chu, Chairman, President and CEO of CIBT Education Group Inc. "Although the global economy is impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and we have experienced some reductions in business, our businesses overall continue to hold steady under difficult market conditions, and we are confident in the Company’s overall outlook for the remainder of this fiscal year for several reasons:
- Completion of the acquisition of the land for the GEC® Oakridge project in Q2 2020, which expanded the scale of our portfolio;
- Our GEC® properties including GEC® Viva, GEC® Granville, GEC® Burnaby Heights, and GEC® Pearson remain fully operational, and most locations, except for GEC® Granville, are filling up at a steady pace.
“During the initial phase of the COVID-19 outbreak we saw early cancellation of leases by some of our school partners due to students being encouraged to return home by their parents, and our short-term stay hotel experienced cancellations from visitors and tourists due to the implementation of travel bans around the world and the suspension or reduction of flights,” continued Toby Chu. “We are now beginning to see the cancellation rate slow down considerably, as more students are extending their stay in Canada in light of the travel ban and the Canadian government's visa policy change allowing international students to extend their study-permit, which should lead to stabilization sooner rather than later.
“Leveraging the strategically designed business model of our student housing operations, we have demonstrated our resiliency and adaptability by quickly switching our hotel property into student accommodation to replace cancellations with new bookings. We have been spending extensive time and effort to market, recruit and accept new tenants that are being evicted by homestay parents and dormitory-style operators due to community transmission concerns. As compared to a dormitory-style, co-living model, our GEC® properties offer "market rental" apartments with self-contained facilities, which reduces the risk of community transmissions. To further mitigate health risk, we have allocated several single-occupied units from our consolidated portfolio for isolation purposes. We encourage our students to report any illness instead of hiding it because they are afraid of being evicted. Further, all new arrivals are assigned to isolated units for two weeks before they move into the shared-units. Overall, our occupancy rate at most student housing facilities has remained reasonably steady since the beginning of April 2020.
“With current tailwinds in the global economy, businesses have had to adjust and anticipate changes in order to stay ahead and be competitive. Despite these headwinds, we saw growth in many of our business lines and remain a leader in both the education and student housing sectors here in Canada," continued Toby Chu. "Our success is attributable to our over twenty years of experience in the education sector, and nearly six years of experience in the education-related real estate business. Also, we have learned from the various economic downturns since 1994, and the SARS outbreak in 2003. By diversifying our model and applying our experience to establish a significant moat around our collective business, we are optimistic that once the current pandemic passes, we will be in an even stronger position to capitalize on Canada’s growing demand for student housing and education.”
About CIBT Education Group:
CIBT Education Group Inc. is one of the largest education and student housing investment companies in Canada focused on the global education market since 1994. Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and U.S OTCQX International, CIBT owns business and language colleges, student housing properties, recruitment centres and corporate offices at 45 locations in Canada and abroad. The total annual enrollment for the group exceeds 12,000 students. Its education providers include Sprott Shaw College (established in 1903), Sprott Shaw Language College, Vancouver International College and CIBT School of Business. Through these schools, CIBT offers business and management programs in healthcare, hotel management, language training, and over 150 career, language and vocational programs. CIBT owns Global Education City Holdings Inc. ("Global Education"), an investment holding and development company focused on developing education related real estate such as student hotels, serviced apartments and education centres. The total portfolio and development budget of projects under Global Education's GEC® brand is over C$1 billion. The various GEC® properties provide accommodations to over 1,500 students and other tenants. CIBT also owns Global Education Alliance ("GEA") and Irix Design Group ("Irix Design"). GEA recruits international students on behalf of many elite kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities in North America. Irix Design is a leading design and advertising company based in Vancouver, Canada. Visit us online and watch our corporate video at www.cibt.net.
Toby Chu
Chairman, President & CEO
CIBT Education Group Inc.
Investor Relations Contact: 1-604-871-9909 extension 318 or | Email: info@cibt.net
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information (the "forward-looking statements") about CIBT Education Group Inc. and its plans. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, the statement as to the anticipation that CIBT will emerge from the COVID-19 crisis in an even stronger position to capitalize on Canada’s growing demand for student housing and education. The forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause CIBT's actual results or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the number of students continuing their education despite the crisis and the number of new enrolments continuing to increase, that there won’t be substantial delays in obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals, and the ability of the project limited partnerships to raise further funds as they are needed on acceptable terms. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations of CIBT's management at the time they are made, and CIBT does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions or expectations, or other circumstances should change, except as may be required by law.
NON-IFRS FINANCIAL MEASUREMENTS
The Company has included non-IFRS performance measures throughout this press release, including (a) Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization ("EBITDA"); and (b) Adjusted EBITDA which is EBITDA adjusted for the gain (loss) on change in fair value of the Company investment properties and the gain (loss) on change in fair value of derivative instruments. These non-IFRS financial measurements do not have any standardized meaning as prescribed by International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Accordingly, these performance measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Management uses EBITDA metrics to measure the profit trends of the business units and segments in the consolidated group since it eliminates the effects of financing decisions. Certain investors, analysts and others utilize these non-IFRS financial metrics in assessing the Company's financial performance. These non-IFRS financial measurements have not been presented as an alternative to net income (loss) or any other financial measure of performance prescribed by IFRS. Reconciliation of the non-IFRS measure has been provided throughout the Company's MD&A filed under the Company's profile on www.SEDAR.COM.