HELP retreats on weaker 4Q earnings

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 23): HELP INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION [] Bhd shares retreated in early trade on Friday after its net profit for the fourth quarter ended Oct 31, 2011 fell 44.6% to RM3.59 million from RM6.47 million a year earlier, due to new student recruitment affected by delays in obtaining licences and approvals for operations.

At 9.20am, HELP fell five sen to RM1.66 with 2,000 shares traded.

Revenue for the quarter rose to RM28.44 million from RM27.33 million in 2010.

HELP had proposed a final gross dividend of two sen per share of 50 sen each, amounting to RM2.13 million for the financial year ending Oct 31, 2011.

HELP International 2Q earnings dip 6.7% to RM6.5m

KUALA LUMPUR: HELP International Bhd's earnings dipped 6.7% to RM6.50 million in the second quarter ended April 30, 2011 from RM6.97 million a year ago due to the slow intake of students.

It said on Monday, June 27 that revenue was just 1.2% higher at RM31.37 million versus RM30.98 million while earnings per share were 4.6 sen compared with 4.9 sen.

'The slower growth in revenue was due to the postponement of new student intakes in Vietnam to second half of the year following a quality review exercise conducted by the Vietnamese government on all universities and colleges in Vietnam,' it said.

For the first half, net profit eased 1.7% to RM9.23 million from RM9.39 million a year while revenue was 2.1% higher at RM55.66 million compared with RM54.48 million.

HELP was upbeat about the education industry following demand for quality education.

'Our home-grown courses continue to excel. Our partnership with the Pearson group and the recent investment in Bridge2think AG and Australia would enable us to reach a larger base of foreign students reading our programmes overseas and tap into growing online learning market globally,' it said.

HELP International said it was actively preparing HELP University College to be upgraded to full university status.