Sunlands Technology Group Announces Unaudited Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Financial Results

Q4 net revenues decreased by 1.7% year-over-year

Q4 gross billings (non-GAAP) decreased by 23.3% year-over-year

Q4 net income reached RMB181.0 million

BEIJING, March 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE: STG) (“Sunlands” or the “Company”), a leader in China’s online post-secondary and professional education, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2022.

Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial and Operational Snapshots

• Net revenues were RMB578.6 million (US$83.9 million), representing a 1.7% decrease year-over-year.
• Gross billings (non-GAAP) were RMB370.8 million (US$53.8 million), representing a 23.3% decrease year-over-year.
• Gross profit was RMB503.3 million (US$73.0 million), representing a 0.8% increase year-over-year.
• Net income was RMB181.0 million (US$26.2 million), compared with net income of RMB150.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.
• Net income margin, defined as net income as a percentage of net revenues, increased to 31.3% from 25.6% in the fourth quarter of 2021.
• New student enrollments^[1] were 161,348, representing a 48.2% increase year-over-year.
• As of December 31, 2022, the Company’s deferred revenue balance was RMB1,690.9 million (US$245.2 million).

Full Year 2022 Financial and Operational Snapshots

• Net revenues were RMB2,323.1 million (US$336.8 million), compared with RMB2,507.8 million in 2021.
• Gross billings (non-GAAP) were RMB1,496.7 million (US$217.0 million), compared with RMB1,970.0 million in 2021.
• Gross profit was RMB1,975.0 million (US$286.3 million), compared with RMB2,131.6 million in 2021.
• Net income was RMB643.0 million (US$93.2 million), compared with net income of RMB212.4 million in 2021.
• Net income margin, defined as net income as a percentage of net revenues, increased to 27.7% from 8.5% in the year 2021.
• New student enrollments were 534,280, compared with 434,228 in 2021.

“Thanks to unwavering execution of our balanced growth and profitability strategy, we concluded 2022 with sustained growth in both new student enrollments and our bottom line in the fourth quarter,” said Mr. Tongbo Liu, Chief Executive Officer of Sunlands. “We maintained our disciplined cost management practices and streamlined operations to boost our efficiency and profitability, driving our quarterly net income to RMB181.0 million in the fourth quarter and our full-year net income to RMB643.0 million, more than triple that of 2021.”

“During the quarter, we sharpened our strategic focus on diversifying our course content, enhancing our course and service quality, and improving student acquisition efficiency, leading to 48.2% year-over-year and 19.5% quarter-over-quarter increases in new student enrollments. Moreover, we further pursued the opportunities fueling the ongoing market demand for skill and interest courses by expanding our professional certification preparation, professional skills and interest programs, which yielded encouraging results. In addition to our continued product mix optimization, we have been prudently exploring new monetization opportunities to drive our future growth. As we progress into 2023, we remain committed to refining our products and services to fulfill a wider age group’s learning needs while amplifying our operational efficiency improvement efforts to support our long-term, sustainable growth,” concluded Mr. Liu.

Ms. Selena Lu Lv, Chief Financial Officer of Sunlands, added, “Amid a persistently challenging macro environment, our net revenues came in at RMB578.6 million in the fourth quarter, representing a 1.7% year-over-year decrease but beating the high end of our guidance range by 7.1%. As we continued to execute cost reduction and efficiency optimization measures, we successfully brought our fourth quarter operating expenses down by 16.1% year-over-year, which contributed to enhanced profitability as reflected in our 20.0% year-over-year increase in net income. Our net income margin also expanded further to 31.3% in the fourth quarter from 25.6% in the same period of 2021 and 29.2% in the prior quarter. In 2023, we will continue to deepen our strategy balancing business growth and profitability as we strive to create incremental value for our stakeholders.”

Financial Results for the fourth quarter of 2022

Net Revenues

In the fourth quarter of 2022, net revenues decreased by 1.7% to RMB578.6 million (US$83.9 million) from RMB588.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. The decrease was mainly driven by the decline in gross billings over the recent quarters.

Cost of Revenues

Cost of revenues decreased by 15.8% to RMB75.3 million (US$10.9 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022 from RMB89.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. The decrease was primarily due to declined compensation expenses related to headcount reduction of our cost of revenues personnel, including teachers and mentors.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased by 0.8% to RMB503.3 million (US$73.0 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022 from RMB499.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Operating Expenses

In the fourth quarter of 2022, operating expenses were RMB336.0 million (US$48.7 million), representing a 16.1% decrease from RMB400.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Sales and marketing expenses decreased by 19.7% to RMB272.5 million (US$39.5 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022 from RMB339.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. The decrease was mainly due to: (i) lower spending on branding and marketing activities; (ii) declined compensation expenses related to headcount reduction of our sales and marketing personnel and (iii) declined rental expenses due to the early termination of certain lease contracts.

General and administrative expenses increased by 11.1% to RMB56.1 million (US$8.1 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022 from RMB50.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. The increase was mainly due to the increase in professional service fees.

Product development expenses decreased by 30.8% to RMB7.4 million (US$1.1 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022 from RMB10.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. The decrease was mainly due to declined compensation expenses related to headcount reduction of our product development personnel.

Other Income/Other Expense

Other income was RMB4.9 million (US$0.7 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with other expense of RMB3.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Net Income

Net income for the fourth quarter of 2022 was RMB181.0 million (US$26.2 million), compared with RMB150.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Basic and Diluted Net Income Per Share

Basic and diluted net income per share was RMB26.03 (US$3.77) in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Cash, Cash Equivalents, Restricted Cash and Short-term Investments

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had RMB757.4 million (US$109.8 million) of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash and RMB70.5 million (US$10.2 million) of short-term investments, compared with RMB676.7 million of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash and RMB184.2 million of short-term investments as of December 31, 2021.

Deferred Revenue

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had a deferred revenue balance of RMB1,690.9 million (US$245.2 million), compared with RMB2,348.2 million as of December 31, 2021.

Capital Expenditures

Capital expenditures were incurred primarily in connection with information technology (“IT”) infrastructure equipment and leasehold improvements necessary to support the Company’s operations. Capital expenditures were RMB0.7 million (US$0.1 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with RMB5.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Financial Results for the Year 2022

Net Revenues

In 2022, net revenues decreased by 7.4% to RMB2,323.1 million (US$336.8 million) from RMB2,507.8 million in the year of 2021.

Cost of Revenues

Cost of revenues decreased by 7.5% to RMB348.2 million (US$50.5 million) in the year of 2022 from RMB376.2 million in the year of 2021.

Gross Profit

Gross profit decreased by 7.4% to RMB1,975.0 million (US$286.3 million) from RMB2,131.6 million in 2021.

Operating Expenses

In the year of 2022, operating expenses were RMB1,358.0 million (US$196.9 million), representing a 32.7% decrease from RMB2,017.4 million in 2021.

Sales and marketing expenses decreased by 35.4% to RMB1,129.5 million (US$163.8 million) in 2022 from RMB1,748.4 million in 2021. The decrease was mainly due to: (i) lower spending on branding and marketing activities; and (ii) declined compensation expenses related to  headcount reduction of our sales and marketing personnel.

General and administrative expenses decreased by 10.6% to RMB185.7 million (US$26.9 million) in 2022 from RMB207.6 million in 2021. The decrease was mainly due to a decrease in compensation expenses related to  headcount reduction of our general and administrative personnel.

Product development expenses decreased by 30.2% to RMB42.8 million (US$6.2 million) in 2022 from RMB61.3 million in 2021. The decrease was primarily due to declined compensation expenses related to headcount reduction of our product development personnel.

Other Income

Other income for 2022 was RMB24.5 million (US$3.6 million), compared with RMB39.2 million in 2021. The decrease was primarily because value-added tax exemption offered by the relevant tax authorities as part of the national COVID-19 relief effort came to an end in April 2021.

Net Income

Net income for 2022 was RMB643.0 million (US$93.2 million), compared with net income of RMB212.4 million in 2021.

Basic and Diluted Net Income Per Share

Basic and diluted net income per share was RMB94.14 (US$13.65) in 2022, compared with RMB32.56 in 2021.

Capital Expenditures

Capital expenditures were incurred primarily in connection with IT infrastructure equipment and leasehold improvement necessary to support the Company’s operations. Capital expenditures were RMB3.2 million (US$0.5 million) in 2022, compared with RMB16.5 million in 2021.

Outlook

For the first quarter of 2023, Sunlands currently expects net revenues to be between RMB530 million to RMB550 million, which would represent a decrease of 10.3% to 13.6% year-over-year. The above outlook is based on the current market conditions and reflects the Company’s current and preliminary estimates of market and operating conditions and customer demand, which are all subject to substantial uncertainty.

Exchange Rate

The Company’s business is primarily conducted in China and all revenues are denominated in Renminbi (“RMB”). This announcement contains currency conversions of RMB amounts into U.S. dollars (“US$”) solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from RMB to US$ are made at a rate of RMB6.8972 to US$1.00, the effective noon buying rate for December 30, 2022 as set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board. No representation is made that the RMB amounts could have been, or could be, converted, realized or settled into US$ at that rate on December 30, 2022, or at any other rate.

Conference Call and Webcast

Sunlands’ management team will host a conference call at 7:30 AM U.S. Eastern Time, (7:30 PM Beijing/Hong Kong time) on March 24, 2023, following the quarterly results announcement.

The dial-in details for the live conference call are:

Please dial in 10 minutes before the call is scheduled to begin. When prompted, ask to be connected to the call for “Sunlands Technology Group.” Participants will be required to state their name and company upon entering the call.

A live webcast and archive of the conference call will be available on the Investor Relations section of Sunlands’ website at http://www.sunlands.investorroom.com/.

A replay of the conference call will be available 1 hour after the end of the conference call until March 24, 2023, by dialing the following telephone numbers:

About Sunlands

Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE: STG) (“Sunlands” or the “Company”), formerly known as Sunlands Online Education Group, is the leader in China’s online post-secondary and professional education. With a one to many, live streaming platform, Sunlands offers various degree and diploma-oriented post-secondary courses as well as online professional courses and educational content, to help students prepare for professional certification exams and attain professional skills. Students can access its services either through PC or mobile applications. The Company’s online platform cultivates a personalized, interactive learning environment by featuring a virtual learning community and a vast library of educational content offerings that adapt to the learning habits of its students. Sunlands offers a unique approach to education research and development that organizes subject content into Learning Outcome Trees, the Company’s proprietary knowledge management system. Sunlands has a deep understanding of the educational needs of its prospective students and offers solutions that help them achieve their goals.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We use gross billings, EBITDA, non-GAAP operating cost and expense, non-GAAP loss/income from operations and Non-GAAP net loss/income per share, each a non-GAAP financial measure, in evaluating our operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes.

We define gross billings for a specific period as the total amount of cash received for the sale of course packages, net of the total amount of refunds paid in such period. Our management uses gross billings as a performance measurement because we generally bill our students for the entire course tuition at the time of sale of our course packages and recognize revenue proportionally over a period. EBITDA is defined as net loss/income excluding depreciation and amortization, interest expense, interest income, and income tax expenses/benefit. We believe that gross billings and EBITDA provide valuable insight into the sales of our course packages and the performance of our business.

These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, their most directly comparable financial measure prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of the historical non-GAAP financial measures to their respective most directly comparable GAAP measure has been provided in the tables included below. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of the historical non-GAAP financial measures to their respective most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. As gross billings, EBITDA, operating cost and expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, general and administrative expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, sales and marketing expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, product development expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, non-GAAP net loss/income exclude share-based compensation expenses, and basic and diluted net loss/income per share excluding share-based compensation expenses have material limitations as an analytical metric and may not be calculated in the same manner by all companies, it may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures used by other companies. In light of the foregoing limitations, you should not consider gross billings and EBITDA as a substitute for, or superior to, their respective most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. We encourage investors and others to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the “safe harbor” provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “confident” and similar statements. Sunlands may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Sunlands’ beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: Sunlands’ goals and strategies; its expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of its brand and services; its ability to retain and increase student enrollments; its ability to offer new courses and educational content; its ability to improve teaching quality and students’ learning results; its ability to improve sales and marketing efficiency and effectiveness; its ability to engage, train and retain new faculty members; its future business development, results of operations and financial condition; its ability to maintain and improve technology infrastructure necessary to operate its business; competition in the online education industry in China; relevant government policies and regulations relating to Sunlands’ corporate structure, business and industry; and general economic and business condition in China Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Sunlands’ filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Sunlands does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media enquiries, please contact:

Sunlands Technology Group
Investor Relations
Email: sl-ir@sunlands.com