ATA Creativity Global
Q4 2020 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 30 Mar 2021

[Operator:]

Greetings, and welcome to ATA Creativity Global Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Financial Results Conference Call. Please note this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Carolyne Sohn of The Equity Group. Thank you. You may begin.

[Carolyne Sohn:]

Thank you, operator, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us. The press release announcing ATA Creatively Global's or ACG's results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2020, is available at the IR section of the company's website at www.atai.net.cn. As part of this conference call, the company has the accompanying slide presentation available on its website. A replay of this broadcast will also be made available at ACG's website for the next 90 days. Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call and any accompanying information discussed herein contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as anticipate, believe, expect, future, plan, outlook and will and include, among other things, statements regarding ACG's future growth and results of operations, ACG's plans for mergers and acquisitions generally, ACG's ability to operate efficiently and maintain continued financial strength under unusual circumstances, ACG's growth strategy, anticipated growth prospects and subsequent business activities, market demand for ACG's portfolio training programs and other education services, the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on ACG and its operations, ACG's plan and anticipated benefits of the measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

[Amy Tung:]

Thank you, Carolyne, and welcome everyone. Good evening to those in America. We appreciate everyone's time. In 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic presented a series of challenges to people and businesses at a level that nobody could have predicted. The virus has had tragic consequences for so many. At ATA Creativity Global, we were very fortunate to have been in the position to navigate the changes created by the critical public health situation in China in the first half of 2020. Having closed on our acquisition of Huanqiuyimeng in early August of 2019; our two companies had substantially assimilated by early 2020, when the significance of the pandemic is becoming increasingly apparent. This played a key role in our successful transitioning, of coursework to the online platform.

[Jun Zhang:]

Thank you, Amy. I think most everyone is glad to put 2020 behind us despite the valuable lessons we have learned. I'm proud of the way everyone at ACG came together to overcome the challenges we faced and I believe our company is now stronger for it. We utilize technology platforms that we can now leverage as a delivery method for various courses and majors which will allow us to not only reach a wider student population, but also enables us to take advantages of our teaching resources making highly sought after teachers available to students in our geographic areas who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to learn from these instructors. We now have a more convenient and accessible support system for students and are also developing an internal system to more closely monitor sales leads. While ACG is known for the personal attention of its programs, we believe this can also translate to online programs if executed properly. As the public health situation in China remain stable. The combination of being able to continue our traditional in person delivery of coursework, and serving students we may not have been able to serve previously via distance learning will help drive enrollment growth in future periods. The work we did in 2020 has positioned ACG well to capitalize on our growth opportunities in 2021. We were pleased to see enrollments remain stable during the fourth quarter with portfolio training credit hours increasing slightly as many students work to complete their portfolios. Some students have already begun to see the results of their hard work as acceptance letters from some institutions that started to go out, but the majority will be in the middle part of the year.

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[Operator:]

There seems to be no questions at this time. I would like to pass the floor back over to management for any closing remarks.

[Amy Tung:]

Thanks again to all of you for joining us. If anyone has questions for us, please feel free to reach directly to us or our Investor Relations from the Equity Group. We are always available to speak to investors and look forward to speaking with you during our next quarterly call. Thank you.

[Operator:]

This concludes today's teleconference. You may now disconnect your line at this time. Thank you for your participation. And have a wonderful day.