Tal Education Group (NYSE:TAL)

BEIJING, Nov. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, today announced a reminder of its intended ticker symbol change from "XRS" to "TAL", as previously announced on October 27, 2016.

Commencing December 1, 2016, at the market open, all of the Company's stock trading, filings and market related information will be reported under the new symbol "TAL". The CUSIP for the Company's ADSs will remain unchanged as 874080104.

Second Quarter 2016 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 56.4% year-over-year to US$271.1 million from US$173.3 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS") were US$0.69 and US$0.61, respectively. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.79 and US$0.70, respectively. Each ADS represents two Class A common shares.

"We are pleased to report strong topline growth fueled by high demand for our core small class tutoring services across the board. We generated 66% of revenue growth in RMB terms in the second quarter, which was supported by 77% of enrollment growth year-over-year. We added 27 learning centers on a net basis to meet the increased demand" said Mr. Rong Luo, TAL's Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Luo continued, "As of December 1, 2016, TAL Education Group's ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange will change from 'XRS' to 'TAL'. With the Company retaining the listing of its ADS under the new name 'TAL'，we are excited to see our group name and abbreviated stock symbol unified."

BEIJING, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- After the acquisition of FirstLeap and the increase of the shareholdings of Shunshun, TAL Education Group ("TAL", NYSE:XRS) keeps moving forward in the international education field. On September 5, TAL announced the release of  HiWorld, a new training brand for overseas study. Meanwhile, the new official website (www.hiworld.com) and brand slogan (Hi World) were released on Internet.

Besides, TAL announced the full acquisition of ACESSAT, a training institution for overseas study. ACESSAT will serve as a part of HiWorld and provide a series of training services, including SSAT, ACT, SAT, and TOEFL.

Founded in 2012, ACESSAT is dedicated in providing training services for teenagers in China to study abroad. The business covers SSAT, ACT, SAT, TOEFL, and systematic courses of the western culture. Different from the popular star-teacher model in the education and training sector, ACESSAT insists on adopting technologies in teaching from the initial stage. According to the rules of metrology and pedagogy, ACESSAT has successfully built a to-be-tested knowledge hierarchy system and developed a well-calibrated model for test taking, helping a large number of students achieve outstanding results. Now, after four years' development, the students from ACESSAT can always be found in the TOP-20 senior high schools in the US.

As Bai Yunfeng, a co-founder of TAL, says, with the upgrade of the consumption and the rise of the new generation of parents, Chinese families are expecting more on their children's education. Based on the rich experience in K12 education, TAL hopes to provide Chinese children with abundant, diversified, and systematic domestic and international education services by integrating world-class education resources and combing the wisdom of human and intelligent technology.

Wu Xiaowei, who is in charge of HiWorld training programs for overseas study, says that HiWorld will inherit the genes of technology research and development of TAL, and carry on the high education quality requirements of TAL. Also, HiWorld will, in light of its own advantages, to train students step by step through scientific and systematic courses so as to improve the students' language capacity, develop their western thinking model and cultural literacy, and help them to embrace the world with calm and confidence.

Huang Wei and Wang Jia'e, founders of ACESSAT, say that, "during the whole acquisition, no one from TAL ever mentioned anything like performance gambling. The group values teamwork and especially recognizes the men of action. On the whole, we think TAL is a generous team."

In the recent two years, TAL has been expanding the business in language training and international education. Apart from Lejiale which targets at the domestic and international English evaluation with an operation history of 10 years, Lewaijiao, an online English teaching brand, was launched to the market last May. And then, 4 months later, the group fully acquired FirstLeap, a quality-oriented children English education institution, and lately acquired Shunshun, a service platform for overseas study.

After the release of HiWorld, FirstLeap, HiWorld training services for overseas study, Shunshun services, etc., will form a fully integrated cooperative unit for TAL international education business. Wu Ying, who is in charge of FirstLeap, thinks that HiWorld will provide learning approaches to further international education for students of FirstLeap, while the high-end younger English learners of FirstLeap will also become an important source of students for HiWorld's business of sending younger children to study abroad in the future. In the view of Zhang Yang, who is in charge of Shunshun, their product line, such as Enjoying High-end Services, Study Art Abroad, Background Improvement, and Immigration Service, will provide more convenient and high-quality international education and living services for overseas study and immigration of the students and their families, for which, HiWorld will serve as an important source of students.

Analysts say that the release of HiWorld also means that TAL has gradually carried out a comprehensive education product layout that combines online and offline services and covers the domestic and international education for people aged from 0 to 24 years old.

BEIJING, June 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, announced today that TAL has increased its equity stake in Beijing Shunshunbida Information Consulting Co., Ltd. ("Shunshun Bida"), which primarily engages in providing professional counseling services to students who desire to study abroad through its online-to-offline platform. TAL made a minority equity investment in Shunshun Bida in December 2015, and, after the increase of equity stake today, has become the controlling shareholder of Shunshun Bida.

Shunshun Bida currently employees close to 1,000 professional consultants in 16 branches across China. It has built its services around its self-developed customer relationship system and the research and development customer data. After TAL's minority investment in Shunshun Bida last year, TAL's liuxue.com, which is a licensed website to provide information on overseas study, has integrated with Shunshun Bida. Shunshun Bida will be operated independently under the umbrella of the "TAL" brand. The management team of Shunshun Bida will work closely with TAL management to explore and extend international footprint. In addition to the value of TAL's brand endorsement in China's K-12 market, the Company will provide all-round support to Shunshun Bida including sourcing of students, co-development of production, and support of personnel and other resources.

"We strive to offer students in China with high-quality education services, which are offered under over ten differentiated brands, including our "Xueersi" brand, "Zhikang" brand and "Mobby" brand. We expect to build a seamless bridge that connects Chinese students and their parents with high-quality and specialized education products and services across the globe. Our stepped-up investment in Shunshun Bida is another important move to help realize our goal," said the management of TAL.

"Shunshun Bida and TAL share the same values and vision with regard to education. After a year's development, we feel honoured to become a member of the TAL group of education services. We will strengthen our cooperation and maintain steady growth to help make TAL a prominent global education group," Shunshun Bida management team said.

Transforming TAL into a global education brand is a long-term key strategic goal of the Company. TAL currently has several internationally oriented offerings, including the organic small class Lejiale English business that is specialized in exam-oriented English subject tutoring, the acquired Firstleap business which offers all-subject tutoring services in English to students aged two to fifteen, and another proprietary brand Lewaijiao which provides one-on-one English tutoring services from foreign teachers. Shunshun Bida, together with these other offerings, will fortify TAL's presence in the international education services market.

First Quarters 2016 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 42.1% year-over-year to US$175.0 million from US$123.2 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.24 and US$0.23, respectively.

"We are pleased with our fourth quarter and full fiscal year results, which reflect the continuous strong growth momentum for small class in the outer cities. Due to high demand for our tutoring services, we expanded small class classroom capacity by over 50% in fiscal year 2016 compared to the previous year and managed higher utilization rates throughout the year," said Mr. Rong Luo, TAL's Chief Financial Officer.

"During fiscal year 2016, we continued to make solid progress in bringing together the technology, community and education resources to become a leading technology-focused education services provider in China, through both in-house development and strategic investments." Mr. Luo added, "Our outlook for further enrollment-driven growth in fiscal year 2017 is positive. We plan to maintain a healthy pace of demand-based expansion of our learning center network while we continue to invest in O2O business and other new initiatives."

Business Outlook

Taking into consideration the recent significant change in RMB exchange rate against the U.S. dollar, based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the first quarter of fiscal year 2017 are expected to be between US$181.1 million and US$183.2 million, representing an increase of 40% to 42% on a year-over-year basis. If not including the impact from the recent depreciation of RMB against the U.S. Dollar, the projected revenue growth rate is expected to be in the range of 45% to 47% for the first quarter of fiscal year 2017.

Fourth Quarter 2016 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 42.1% year-over-year to US$175.0 million from US$123.2 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS") were US$0.14 and US$0.13, respectively. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.24 and US$0.23, respectively. Each ADS represents two Class A common shares.

"We are pleased with our fourth quarter and full fiscal year results, which reflect the continuous strong growth momentum for small class in the outer cities. Due to high demand for our tutoring services, we expanded small class classroom capacity by over 50% in fiscal year 2016 compared to the previous year and managed higher utilization rates throughout the year," said Mr. Rong Luo, TAL's Chief Financial Officer.

"During fiscal year 2016, we continued to make solid progress in bringing together the technology, community and education resources to become a leading technology-focused education services provider in China, through both in-house development and strategic investments." Mr. Luo added, "Our outlook for further enrollment-driven growth in fiscal year 2017 is positive. We plan to maintain a healthy pace of demand-based expansion of our learning center network while we continue to invest in O2O business and other new initiatives."

Third Quarter 2015 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 43.1% year-over-year to US$142.2 million from US$99.4 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS") were both US$0.12. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.20 and US$0.19, respectively. Each ADS represents two Class A common shares.

"Topline growth for the third fiscal quarter was stronger than guidance due to strong demand for our core small class business throughout our network of learning centers. We are particularly pleased with the resumption of enrollment driven growth in Beijing," said Mr. Rong Luo, TAL's Chief Financial Officer.

"We continued to add learning center capacity and widen our geographical footprint in the third fiscal quarter, laying a firm foundation for future growth. Fiscal year-to-date we have expanded learning center capacity by 40% over the same year-ago period to meet the ongoing high demand for our tutoring services. Our network now mostly consists of larger centers than before, which is in line with our long-term objective to achieve high operational efficiencies and center utilization. Moreover, we have extended our reach to 24 cities by entering into five new cities in the third fiscal quarter, and will add another city in the fourth fiscal quarter," Mr. Luo added.

Business Outlook

Taking into consideration the recent significant change in RMB exchange rate against the U.S. dollar, based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016 are expected to be between US$166.3 million and US$168.8 million, representing an increase of 35% to 37% on a year-over-year basis. If not including the impact from the recent depreciation of RMB against the U.S. Dollar, the projected revenue growth rate is expected to be in the range of 40% to 42% for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016.

BEIJING, January 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, today announced a strategic investment in Knewton Inc. ("Knewton"), a global leader in adaptive learning. In addition, TAL and Knewton have signed a letter of intent to incorporate Knewton's adaptive platform in TAL's online learning environment.

The letter of intent forms the basis of a commercial agreement with Knewton that will enable TAL to build digital course materials that dynamically adapt to each individual student's needs on its online courses platform. Knewton's platform currently powers adaptive learning products for many of the world's largest education companies.

Knewton provides students with tailored recommendations for exactly what to study, teachers with analytics to better support each student, and publishers with content insights to develop more effective digital products. Knewton powers adaptive content to make specific, real-time recommendations for each student based on how the student learns, what she has already mastered, goals she has set with her teacher, and what works best for similar students. Knewton has provided more than 15 billion learning recommendations to more than 10 million students on every continent except Antarctica. Knewton was founded in 2008 and has offices in New York City, London, Sao Paulo, and Tokyo.

"We are very pleased to invest in and partner with Knewton, an international pioneer in the field of adaptive learning, and jointly provide an ever more innovative learning experience to Chinese students. The ongoing advances in education technology have created unprecedented possibilities to individualize and dynamically adjust online learning experience. We look forward to our cooperation with Knewton, which is based on a shared commitment to the future of education through the integration of technology, Internet and education on a global scale," said the management of TAL.

"We are excited about building a strong relationship with TAL," said David Liu, chief operating officer of Knewton. "Knewton's platform is being used across the globe, including rapid growth in China, to expand access to adaptive content and improve student outcomes. With TAL's commitment to education and innovation, together we can bring individualized learning to more students."

TAL joins Knewton's latest round of funding, which is led by Sofina, a Belgian investment group. For TAL, this is another international investment at the cross-section where education meets technology, following its investment in the Minerva Project in 2014.

First Quarter 2016 Financial Results

BEIJING, October 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, today announced a strategic investment of US$30 million in Phoenix E-Learning Corporation ("Phoenix E-Learning"), which operates zxxk.com, the largest online educational platform serving the public school system in China.

Founded in 2003, Phoenix E-Learning has built an national online education services network serving mostly primary and middle schools and their teachers and students. It offers a full range of online educational products and services to support an information-based educational environment, including databases for teaching and learning materials and data and software and cloud platforms. Zxxk.com is used in over 30,000 public schools and has accumulated more than 15 million registered users, 80% of whom are teachers. Upon completion of the investment, which is subject to filing with the relevant government authorities, TAL will hold 32% equity interest in Phoenix E-Learning.

"TAL's investment in Phoenix E-Learning is an important step to enter the market of digitalizing public schools. We have achieved strong organic growth in our own business while proactively building an ecosystem for education through strategic investments and acquisitions. Through our direct investment in Phoenix E-Learning, we have the opportunity to enter a white space market with our advantages in proprietary content and tutoring services," said the management of TAL.

"We welcome the strategic investment by TAL in the transformation of the public education system and digital education upgrading. Phoenix E-Learning and TAL are highly complementary in the field of education and we look forward to the two sides working together to open up the education market within the public school system to the outside," said the management of Phoenix E-Learning.

BEIJING, Sept. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Firstleap Education ("Firstleap"), which provides all-subject tutoring service in English in China to children aged from 2 to 15 years old.

Founded in 2009, Firstleap provides all-subject tutoring service in English in China to children aged from 2 to 15 years old through both its online platform www.firstleap.cn and over 60 learning centers. It now serves more than 20,000 students in over 20 cities in China and maintains high retention rate and customer satisfaction rate.

"We are excited about our acquisition of Firstleap as we believe it will complement and extend our tutoring service offerings in the pre-K to college space, as well as help us gain more insight into childhood development and learning," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang. "Firstleap has built a strong online-to-offline platform offering comprehensive tutoring services to children. This acquisition aligns well with our vision to position TAL at the intersection of where education meets technology. After the acquisition, we plan to keep Firstleap as a separate brand for independent operation within the company structure. Firstleap will continue to provide practical English training focusing on qualitative development in the live context, as is the latest trend in English tutoring. Our organic small class Lejiale English business will be specialized in exam-oriented English subject tutoring, while our other proprietary brand Lewaijiao will provide online one-on-one oral English tutoring by native English speaking teachers. The separate brands will also work together with Shunshun Liuxue, the online C2C overseas studies consulting platform in which we have invested recently. We expect to see all these separate brands to grow into integrated businesses under the TAL umbrella."

The total consideration for this acquisition is not disclosed for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

First Quarter 2016 Financial Results

Net revenues increased by 45.3% year-over-year to US$129.4 million from US$89.0 million in the same period of the prior year.

Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS") were US$0.24 and US$0.23, respectively. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.30 and US$0.28, respectively. Each ADS represents two Class A common shares

"First quarter revenue exceeded our expectation due to very strong growth in cities other than Beijing. We also achieved over 40% year-on-year growth in both operating income and net income growth even though we opened 14 new learning centers on a net basis in the first quarter. We expect this strong business momentum to continue in the second quarter," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"When we look at the revenue contribution from small class in the cities we generate most revenue from, we see how our revenue base is becoming more broadly spread over a larger number of cities, reflecting the rapid and healthy development of our core small class business. In the first quarter, the top five cities in terms of revenue contribution accounted for an aggregate of 72% of small class revenues. In the same period last year, the top 5 cities contributed 80%," Mr. Zhang added. "This robust start in our business and operations for Fiscal Year 2016 supports our ongoing plans to gain long-term leverage in the future education business models. From our company's early beginnings we have firmly believed that innovation and change in education is part and parcel of our business, and we want to be right at the cusp of where education meets technology."

Mr. Rong Luo, Chief Financial Officer, said, "We achieved a very solid quarter on all financial metrics, with a top line performance that is mostly enrollment driven. We saw strong enrollment growth in small class in the first quarter as well as a record high number of online student enrollments, which for the first time reached 20% of all enrollments."

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the second quarter of fiscal year 2016 are expected to be between US$161.5 million and US$165.2 million, representing an increase of 32% to 35% on a year-over-year basis, assuming no material change in exchange rates.

Fourth Quarter 2015 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 41.6% year-over-year to US$123.2 million from US$87.0 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.24 and US$0.23, respectively.

"Fiscal year 2015 was another successful year in the execution of our growth strategy. We increased our small class capacity by 30.6% over the previous fiscal year-end by adding 692 small class classrooms on a net basis. Our total revenue grew 38.3% from fiscal year 2014 to fiscal year 2015, supported by the continuous robust growth of our business in the cities outside Beijing, where our K-12 after-school tutoring services are relatively underpenetrated and we have firmly established our brand presence. During fiscal year 2015, our total enrollments grew to nearly 1.5 million," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"In the past fiscal year, we stepped up our investment in online-to-offline (O2O) and new business significantly to implement our strategy of combining new technology with education. We have received positive feedback from users and customers, and believe that we solidified our early-mover advantage in this regard. In fiscal year 2016, we will continue to bring together the technology, community and education resources, and aim to become a leading technology-focused education services provider in China, through both in-house development and strategic investments," Mr. Zhang added.

Mr. Rong Luo, Chief Financial Officer, said, "We are pleased with the strong financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015, which exceeded our expectations on both top and bottom lines. We achieved 30.3% year-over-year growth in non-GAAP operating income, even though we substantially increased investments in new technology and business. Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in O2O and new business initiatives to secure our long-term healthy growth."

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the first quarter of fiscal year 2016 are expected to be between US$122.0 million and US$124.6 million, representing an increase of 37% to 40% on a year-over-year basis, assuming no material change in exchange rates.

Third Fiscal Quarter 2014 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 35.1% year-over-year to US$99.4 million from US$73.5 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.20 and US$0.19, respectively vs. 0.19 and  0.18 in the same period of the prior year.

"We delivered strong top line growth in the third quarter as we continued to expand our tutoring services as planned. I am particularly pleased that we have maintained growth momentum even in the midst of the tremendously exciting changes which bring opportunities of building new education models for the future," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"In this quarter, we also took a minority equity interest in Guokr, a popular mobile and web-based community for science and technology education in China. We believe Guokr's Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) content will enrich our blended learning approach across multi-media platforms. Its customer base of high school, college students and young graduates is also highly complementary to our strong K-12 user base. Through in-house development and strategic investments, we are bringing together the technology, community and education resources to become a leading technology-focused education services provider in China," Mr. Zhang added.

Rong Luo, Chief Financial Officer, said, "The healthy geographical spread of our tutoring services is more evident than ever as cities other than Beijing and Shanghai contributed over half of our core small class revenues in the third quarter. We continued to invest prudently in meeting the growing demand for our services by adding 15 learning centers to reach a total of 289 learning centers and adding 533 small class classrooms during the first nine months of fiscal year 2015. We will continue to execute our plan to add more learning center capacity in those cities with satisfactory utilization rates, such as Guangzhou, to meet the growing demand for our class-based tutoring services. "

Business Outlook

In the fourth quarter we again deal with the usual every other year seasonality associated with the timing of Chinese New Year. The late start of spring term, which typically begins after Chinese New Year, will cause one less weekend of classes to be recorded in February as compared to last year. Taking into consideration this seasonality impact and the revenue shift from the third quarter to the fourth quarter because of the late fall term and the delay of classes due to APEC Forum in Beijing, total net revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 are expected to be between US$116.6 million and US$119.2 million, representing an increase of 34% to 37% on a year-over-year basis. This estimation also incorporates the quarter-to-date exchange rate impact, which is negative 2.0% as of today, assuming no more material change in exchange rates.

Total net revenues for the fiscal year ending February 28, 2015 are expected to be between US$427.4 million and US$430.0 million, representing an increase of 36% to 37% year-over-year.

These estimates reflect the Company's current expectation, which is subject to change.

BEIJING, December 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, announced today that TAL has invested approximately US$15 million in Guokr, Inc. ("Guokr"), a popular mobile and web-based community for science and technology education in China, for Guokr's minority equity interest.

"With our investment in Guokr we take another solid step towards transforming into a leading technology-driven education services provider in China. We are pleased with this opportune and complementary investment, which we continue to seek as we expand and innovate our core tutoring service offerings. Guokr and its Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) content will be an important addition to our blended learning approach across multi-media platforms, especially Internet and mobile Internet. We believe Guokr and TAL have great synergies, which will further strengthen as a rapidly increasing number of our students discover they can 'play-and-learn' on their mobile devices outside the traditional classroom setting," said TAL's co-founder and General Manager of Investment Unit, Mr. Yachao Liu. "Through Guokr we can also extend our reach to a complementary customer base, the mostly college-based technology enthusiasts. This extension will solidify Guokr and our common ground in building a social community through MOOC-based science and technology content for young demographics. In addition, we will leverage the Guokr MOOC platform to connect with world class education resources, which is consistent with our recent investment in the Minerva Project, a revolutionary new provider of undergraduate education in the US, as well as our angel investment in Sharkpark, a science education company. Our investment in Guokr is therefore an outstanding opportunity to share our vision and align our interests in building new education models for the future and incorporating self-education on Internet and mobile Internet."

Founded in 2010, Guokr has grown into a top science social networking service provider in China that fosters a community for people to learn and share scientific knowledge of every aspect of human life. Topics on Guokr range across various fields, such as biology, psychology, sociology, physics, astronomy, etc, and can be accessed through its website, Guokr.com as well as mobile applications. To date, Guokr's users mainly consist of high school and college students and young graduates.

Guokr also cooperates with various open education initiatives including Coursera, an international education platform which offers MOOC content in partnership with top universities and organizations worldwide. Guokr supports the translation of MOOC content into Chinese for Coursera and other MOOC providers and promotes such content to its user base through Guokr.com. To date, Guokr MOOC platform has accumulated a total of 800 thousand registered users.

Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 33.1% year-over-year to US$122.4 million from US$92.0 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS") were US$0.37 and US$0.34, respectively. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.42 and US$0.39, respectively. Each ADS represents two Class A common shares.

"The second quarter top and bottom line results came in as expected, and we are well on track to achieve our growth target and strategic goals for the fiscal year. We added the city of Changsha in June taking the total number of cities in our learning center network to 19, and we also added a net 270 small class classrooms in the quarter. Cities other than Beijing and Shanghai delivered 48% of overall small class revenue last quarter versus 35% during the same period last year and 44% in the first quarter," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"At the same time, we continue to make strategic investments to realize our vision of becoming a leading technology-focused education services provider. A great illustration of our efforts in this area is our recently leading the Series B funding for Silicon Valley-based Minerva Project together with ZhenFund and Yongjin Group. Through this investment we extend our reach beyond K-12 and gain exposure to new education technology that can help inform our thinking about the ongoing advancement of our own programs. We will continue to search in China and globally for additional investment opportunities that will complement and enhance our core business," Mr. Zhang added.

Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, said, "Even with the impact on a fully diluted basis of the share count expansion resulting from the convertible senior notes issued in May 2014, I am pleased that we achieved diluted earnings per ADS of US$0.34 on net income of US$29.1 million. While we continued to drive gross margin improvment, the second quarter saw the higher level of SG&A spending we expected as our planned investment in new business and product lines gathered pace. The increase was attributable to a number of initiatives including content development for ICS 3.0 and other programs, enhancement of Xueersi Peiyou app for small class registration and blended learning, stepped-up marketing spending on our re-branded Jiazhangbang social community and our bringing onboard new talent, particularly for emerging online and mobile-driven business and product lines. For the second half of this fiscal year as planned we will allocate additional resources to support the further development of our new products and services."

Changes in Management and Board of Directors

Effective November 1, 2014, Mr. Joseph Kauffman will step down as the Chief Financial Officer of TAL, a position he has held since June 2010. The Company appointed Mr. Kauffman as a director to its Board of Directors effective October 17, 2014 and Mr. Kauffman will continue to serve in his director role after stepping down as the Chief Financial Officer.

The Board of Directors has appointed Mr. Rong Luo as the Chief Financial Officer, effective November 1, 2014. Prior to joining TAL, Mr. Luo was the Chief Financial Officer of eLong Inc, a leading mobile and online travel service provider in China. Before that, he was a finance senior manager (China) for the Lenovo Group. Prior to Lenovo, Mr. Luo held several roles in the finance team of Microsoft in Beijing and Seattle. He holds a double major Bachelor's Degree in Economics and Information Management & Systems from Peking University, and a Master's Degree in Management Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University.

Effective October 17, 2014, Mr. Kevin Shanyou Li was appointed by the Board of Directors as a director and Chair of the Compensation Committee. Mr. Li is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Executive Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Investment at China Europe International Business School ("CEIBS"). Prior to joining CEIBS in 2011, he founded Ku6.com Inc in 2006 and led the company to list on NASDAQ in 2010. Before founding Ku6.com Inc, Mr. Li was a senior vice president and editor-in-chief of Sohu.com Inc. Mr. Li holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics from Nankai University and an EMBA from CEIBS. Mr. Kevin Shanyou Li replaced Mr. Tong Chen, who resigned from the Board of Directors effective October 17, 2014.

"We thank Joe and Tong for their great support to TAL over these years. Joe was instrumental in the successful completion of our initial public offering in 2010 and later capital raise this year. He helped guide strong overall strategy and execution, and was indispensable in his work leading finance, corporate development, investor relations, and treasury among other key functions. We look forward to his ongoing contributions as a director while wishing him the best of luck and success in his future endeavors. We also thank Tong for his input into and dedication to our Board during the past three years," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang. "We warmly welcome Rong Luo to the team as our new Chief Financial Officer and Kevin Shanyou Li to the Board as our new Independent Director and are keen to work together with Rong and Kevin closely on the continued growth of the business and execution of corporate strategy."

BEIJING, October 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, announced today that it has led a China-based investment consortium and joined Silicon Valley-based Benchmark Capital to invest in a revolutionary new provider of undergraduate education in the US named Minerva Project, Inc. ("Minerva"). These investments by the TAL-led consortium and Benchmark represent an initial close for Minerva's Series B preferred stock financing, with a final close scheduled within 3 months thereafter that will total up to $70M of new financing.

Under the terms of the relevant investment agreement, a representative of TAL will also sit on the Minerva Project's Board, joining Ben Nelson, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Minerva Project, and Kevin Harvey, general partner at Benchmark Capital. Minerva will also appoint two additional Board members at a later date.

TAL is the leading investor in a China-based consortium that has jointly raised US$25 million to invest in Minerva. TAL has contributed US$18 million, and Yongjin Group and ZhenFund have collectively contributed the remaining US$7 million. Meanwhile, Benchmark Capital, which was the sole investor in the Series A preferred stock financing, completed in 2012, has also committed to participate in this round of financing with additional funding.

Minerva has reinvented the university experience through its innovative curriculum and use of technology to provide top quality education at a reasonable tuition to bright and motivated students from across the world. Minerva was founded in 2012 and since then has created the Minerva Schools at KGI ("Minerva Schools") in an alliance with the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences ("KGI"), a member of the Claremont University Consortium. Last month, the Minerva Schools opened its doors and its founding class of students officially kicked off their first year of studies. The founding class includes 29 students from 14 countries and territories, representing an admissions acceptance rate of 2.8%. Seven of the students are from China.

The Minerva Schools' undergraduate program is differentiated from other highly selective American universities in several ways. The Schools have a scaffolded curriculum that emphasizes the development of key "habits of the mind and foundational concepts" rather than knowledge dissemination. Through its proprietary technology platform, substantially all Minerva classes are small, online and seminar-style. The program has a rotational residency in major metropolitan cities across the world over the course of four years at the Minerva Schools. Also, the cost of tuition is comparatively low at approximately 25% of the cost of most highly selective, private US-based universities.

"We are very pleased to make this investment in Minerva. In the past year alone TAL had over 1 million enrollments in our enrichment programs and every year the brightest of our high school seniors will receive offers to attend the top universities in China. We hope that our strategic investment into, and the long-term relationship we are building with, Minerva will help top Chinese students seek opportunities to experience the innovative Minerva learning project in the near future," commented Bangxin Zhang, Chairman and CEO of TAL Education Group. "TAL and Minerva share similar forward-looking teaching philosophies and interest in trailblazing new technologies in the education experience. TAL's mission is to be at the crossroads of where education meets technology, combining internet and mobile initiatives with our classroom based teaching to deliver a more effective learning process. Likewise, Minerva's unique teaching approach and creative use of technology in the virtual classroom pioneers a new model for higher education. We look forward to working together in the international education arena as forerunners of technology-driven services that cultivate talented students into tomorrow's leaders."

"TAL is one of the most respected, top quality, and innovative education companies we have come across worldwide. We are pleased to have them lead our Series B funding round and join our Board as our philosophical approaches to education are in alignment," said Ben Nelson, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Minerva Project.

Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results

• Revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2014 was $35.9 million, up 49% from the same period a year ago.
• Net income attributable to Ossen Innovation Co., Ltd. was $1.5 million in the second quarter of 2014 compared to $0.7 million in the year-ago period. Earnings per share were $0.07 versus $0.04 a year ago.

"I am pleased to report significant quarter over quarter revenue, gross profit and net income increases for the second quarter ended June 30th," said Dr. Liang Tang, Chairman of Ossen Innovation. "Ossen continues to experience an increase in demand for our higher strength and higher quality rare earth coated products. Although our gross margin was impacted due to price competition, we are encouraged by the continued rebound in demand for rare earth products during the first half of 2014. Ossen also added several new customers during the quarter that placed large orders quickly with us, which continues to reaffirm our products' superior quality, performance and durability characteristics," concluded Dr. Tang.

Business Updates and Outlook

We note several positive developments in the second quarter of 2014. Specifically:

• In June 2014, Ossen (Jiujiang) Steel Wire & Cable Co., Ltd. was awarded the Major Scientific and Technological Innovation Title in Jiujiang City for the year 2014. This award was received in recognition of the Company's development of the 5mm series zinc-aluminum rare earth coated bridge cables. Ossen (Jiujiang) will receive a subsidy from the government.
• In August 2014, the Company was awarded the highest honor in product quality, the Jiujiang City Mayor Quality Award of 2014, in recognition of its superior product quality and advanced quality management systems. Furthermore, Ossen's 15.24 mm 1860MPa coated strand research project was been listed as a national key new product project for 2014 by the Chinese government.

First Quarter 2014 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 45.0% year-over-year to US$89.0 million from US$61.4 million in the same period of the pri
• Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were both US$0.22 vs last years same quarter of US$0.13.

"Over the years we have proven that we can sustain our teaching quality and outstanding reputation as we steadily grow our bricks-and-mortar learning center network. Word-of-mouth is our primary objective; this is what ultimately drives our business results. In determining how quickly to expand our learning center network we will continue to look primarily at customer satisfaction and market reputation as key criteria and not be tempted to expand too quickly in order to achieve short-term business outcomes. As always, we also will not invest heavily in sales and marketing to drive our business results but instead let the quality of our teaching and customer service promote the word-of-mouth which in turn will continue to drive our strong organic growth," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"TAL's mission is to help students achieve better outcomes through a more efficient learning process. We will use multimedia, Internet, and mobile in a blended learning approach to achieve this goal, and in so doing transform TAL into a leading technology-driven provider of education services in China. Over the last several years we have gradually increased our investment in R&D and online education initiatives and going forward we will continue to reinvest greater resources back into these areas. On August 1, our Eduu platform, which includes websites that we have now run for the last ten years, will change its name to 'Jia Zhang Bang,' or 'Helping Parent Community,' which is the name of our parent community mobile app. Through these efforts and more we will use technology and the mobile Internet to reshape today's teach-and-learn model," Mr. Zhang continued.

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, added, "With topline growth of 45% and operating income growth of 105%, we further scaled the business with improved efficiencies and utilization driven by strong enrolments. We replicated our successful market entry formula by adding our first learning center in Shijiazhuang and Qingdao in March and April, respectively, and Changsha in June, which extends our footprint to 19 cities in calendar year 2014 as planned. In the first quarter, we expanded our center capacity by a net 199 classrooms in our small class business, including a net ten small class learning centers. We also added a net one new learning center for our one-on-one business. In the coming quarters, we will continue to seek a balance between current and future growth. Our positive outlook remains unchanged."

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the second quarter of fiscal year 2015 are expected to be between US$120.5 million and US$123.2 million, representing an increase of 31% to 34% on a year-over-year basis, assuming no material change in exchange rates and incorporating the expected impact of the weaker RMB in the second quarter of fiscal year 2015 versus the same period of the previous year.

BEIJING, May 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, today announced the pricing of US$200 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2019 (the "Notes"). The Notes were offered to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and certain non-U.S. persons in offshore transactions in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. The Company has granted to the initial purchasers a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional US$30 million principal amount of Notes. The Notes will be convertible into the Company's American Depositary Shares ("ADSs"), at the option of the holders, based on an initial conversion rate of 38.0431 of ADSs per US$1,000 principal amount of Notes (which is equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately US$26.29 per ADS and represents an approximately 30% conversion premium over the closing trading price of the Company's ADSs on May 15, 2014, which was US$20.22 per share). The conversion rate is subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain events. Holders of the Notes may convert their Notes in integral multiples of US$1,000 principal amount at any time prior to the close of business on the second scheduled trading day immediately preceding the maturity date. TAL will not have the right to redeem the Notes prior to maturity except for certain circumstances involving changes in the tax laws for the relevant taxing jurisdiction. Holders of the Notes will have the right to require the Company to repurchase for cash all or part of their Notes on May 15, 2017 or upon the occurrence of certain fundamental changes at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the repurchase date.

The Notes will bear interest at a rate of 2.50% per year, payable semiannually in arrears on May 15 and November 15 of each year, beginning on November 15, 2014. The Notes will mature on May 15, 2019, unless previously repurchased or converted in accordance with their terms prior to such date.

The Company expects to use the majority of the net proceeds from this offering for strategic investments and for general corporate purposes, and less than 10% of the net proceeds to pay the cost of certain capped call transactions described below. If the initial purchasers exercise their option to purchase additional Notes, TAL expects to use less than 10% of the net proceeds from the sale of the additional Notes to enter into additional capped call transactions.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2014

• Net revenues increased by 45.9% year-over-year to $87.0 million from $59.6 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Non-GAAP ADS was $0.24, compared to $0.11 for the same period of the prior year.

"Fiscal 2014 has been a year of enormous progress in all directions for TAL. We significantly expanded our footprint in the 16 cities in which we operate, adding over the course of the year a net 19 learning centers and expanding capacity by nearly 600 small-class classrooms to address robust demand for our tutoring services. As a result, our total enrollments experienced a year-on-year growth of 31.6%, driving our business to pass the one million annual enrollments milestone. Our small class offering, comprised of Xueersi Peiyou and the ages 3 to 8 Mobby young learners business, was again the main driver of our growth," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"The health of our core business afforded more management time and resources for future growth opportunities at the crossroads of where technology meets education, particularly for new online and mobile product offerings. This enabled us to maintain our strength in online through a mix of in-house development, acquisitions and strategic investments. For fiscal 2015, our key priority is to continue to manage this balance between current and future growth while maintaining our edge in deployment of technology, internet and mobile in the K-12 learning experience," Mr. Zhang continued.

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, explained, "As expected, our topline grew rapidly in this quarter, coming in at the high end of our guidance. As guided on previous calls, given the timing of Chinese New Year in this fiscal year, the spring term began in February 2014, which gave a boost to fourth quarter revenue we did not enjoy the prior year. Even after removing this every-other-year windfall, our topline growth in the fourth quarter would have still been very healthy at approximately 38% year-over-year. While driving strong current revenues, we also began to invest in future capacity ahead of the summer term of fiscal year 2015, and added more than 190 classrooms of incremental capacity in the quarter, including eight new small class learning centers. We also added one net new learning center for our Zhikang one-on-one business."

"Financial highlights for the year were 38.9% revenue growth, with gross profit margins of 51.7%, and GAAP net income growth of 81.2% to a record high US$60.6 million. Since our founding, we have enjoyed a light asset business model with strong free cash flow. In fiscal 2014, we delivered operating cash flow of over US$100 million, representing approximately 54% growth versus the previous year. Capital expenditure for the year was approximately US$10.9 million, representing a mere 3.5% of revenues."

"Overall, our solid business fundamentals and cash balance of US$270 million form an excellent basis for our plans for fiscal 2015 to advance our tutoring services with innovative technology both in the classroom and online, and invest in teachers and staff, curriculum and operational efficiencies to support our sustainable long-term development and competitive strength," Mr. Kauffman added.

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the first quarter of fiscal year 2015 are expected to be between US$85.9 million and US$88.4 million, representing an increase of 40% to 44% on a year-over-year basis, assuming no material change in exchange rates.

BEIJING, Jan. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Babytree Inc, a prominent provider of online and offline products and services for pregnancy and early childhood in China, and TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS), a leading Chinese educational technology company, jointly announced today TAL's strategic investment in Babytree, the beginning of a large-scale collaboration that extends from pregnancy, early childhood through K-12. The unprecedented move promises to change the landscape of parenting and education in China.

The strategic investment is for the amount of approximately US$23.5 million, according to the joint communique. Detailed terms were not disclosed. Mr. Allen Huainan Wang, Babytre's Co-founder and CEO, and Mr. Bangxin Zhang, TAL's CEO, both expressed their desire to work together toward future product and service offerings that leverage the strengths of both companies in the pregnancy through K-12 education space while both companies continue their own paths of innovation and development in their respective areas.

BEIJING, January 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, and Babytree, Inc. ("Babytree"), the operator of a leading online resource and community platform for prospective and new parents, jointly announced today that TAL made a minority equity investment in Babytree for an all cash consideration of approximately US$23.5 million.

Founded in 2007, Babytree operates Babytree.com, a digital resource and community platform for pregnancy and parenting that caters to Chinese new and prospective parents both in Greater China and overseas. The Babytree website and its mobile applications offer expert advice and support on care-taking, development and health for prospective and new parents. Babytree addresses five stages of early parenting: preparation for pregnancy, pregnancy, infants (0-1 years), toddlers (1-3 years) and young children (3-6 years). Babytree has also pioneered a fast-growing online-to-offline business with its "Mika (Growing World)" branded subscription service, whereby parents receive a box monthly with books, multi-media games and toys to support their child's development at every stage.

"We are excited with our investment in Babytree as we believe it will help us gain insight into early childhood development and learning, which complements and extends TAL's existing online presence in the pre-K to college space," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang. "Babytree has built a much talked-about online and mobile brand as well as online-to-offline subscription services around China's vast community of young parents. Our investment in this company aligns well with our vision to position TAL at the intersection of where education meets technology. It also suits our business strategy to date, that as we enter new verticals or geographical areas we explore online community first to understand new customers and markets."

"We are delighted to bring in TAL as a strategic stakeholder in Babytree. As a leading player in the tutoring sector, TAL is at the forefront of embracing innovative technology as it explores new online and mobile approaches to learning. We view this investment by TAL as a sound endorsement of Babytree's status as the leading online and mobile parenting platform that caters to pregnancy to pre-school families in China. With a strong commitment to enhancing the parenting experience via online communities and best-in-class online tools and high-quality content, Babytree in its six plus years of history has become the desired channel for reaching China's new parents and families for top brands, manufacturers and content providers. We look forward to bringing TAL, a partner that is dedicated to providing resources and development for the long-term advancement of education in China, into the Babytree community. We believe that this investment and ensuing collaborations also signal the general openness of Babytree to bringing all relevant best-in-class products and services to our massive user population," said Allen Huainan Wang, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Babytree.

Third Quarte 2014 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 50.4% year-over-year to US$73.5 million from US$48.9 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.19 and US$0.18, respectively. Each ADS represents two Class A common shares.

"We are pleased to report a stellar quarter with outperformance on our revenue guidance and strong profitability, resulting from higher-than-expected enrollment growth and center utilization. Net revenue of US$73.5 million came in US$2.5 million above the top end of our guidance. Revenue growth was supported by a 46.2% increase in enrollments. Our execution on the top line was better than expected as cities outside Beijing and Shanghai continued to outperform and contributed 40% of our total small class revenue, while at the same time Shanghai once again performed well and Beijing began to show signs of recovery," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"Given our healthy business fundamentals, we are ready to lead the business into newly evolving growth opportunities in the market. Consumer behavior on Internet and mobile, education reform, and the changing needs of the labor market in China are revolutionizing the ways in which students learn in and around school. With our recent launch of the ICS 3.0 version that creates an upgraded interactive white board and pad-based environment in the classroom, we are bringing class-based tutoring to a new level. In addition, we see a host of new opportunities in terms of expanding addressable markets, widening the range of subjects and introducing new tutoring formats."

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, continued, "Our top line growth and effective cost control resulted in the strong bottom line in the third quarter. We were able to keep the costs of business expansion well under control as we tempered the pace of center and classroom capacity expansion as guided. Other factors contributing to gross margin strength in this quarter were improved center utilization and changing business mix as small class continued to grow faster than our one-on-one business. We expect small class to remain our key growth driver in coming quarters."

"Our expectation for the fourth quarter is strong as we see the positive momentum to continue and cap a remarkable year of growth, business expansion and profitability. The fourth quarter outlook looks particularly high on a year-on-year basis because it will cycle a low quarter and include an extra week of classes due to the timing of Chinese New Year."

Business Outlook
Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014 are expected to be between US$84.7 million and US$87.1 million, representing an increase of 42% to 46% on a year-over-year basis.

For the fiscal year ending February 28, 2014, the Company expects total net revenues to be in the estimated range of US$311.6 million to US$314.0 million, representing an increase of 37.9% to 39.0% year-over-year.

Second Quarter Fiscal 2014 Results

• Net revenues increased by 35.1% year-over-year to US$92.0 million from US$68.1 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Non-GAAP ADS was $0.32, compared to $0.23 for the same quarter of fiscal 2013.

"The second quarter was an outstanding quarter for our business. Net revenues increased by 35.1% year-over-year to US$92.0 million, exceeding the top-end of our guidance by US$1.5 million. Revenue growth was supported by a 24.8% increase in enrollments. Our small class business in markets other than Beijing and Shanghai continued to perform well, and accounted for 35% of small class revenues compared to 22% during the same period last year. In addition, our Shanghai operation maintained its solid revenue growth trajectory on the back of continued strong enrollment increases in the summer semester," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"Given the improved learning center utilization, we took the opportunity to more aggressively ramp up our tutoring network capacity in the quarter. We added a net of nine learning centers, bringing the total to 264 centers, as compared to 255 at the end of the first fiscal quarter. In terms of classroom capacity, we signed leases for a net 247 additional classrooms in the quarter for our small class business, bringing us to a net 351 additional classrooms for the first half of the year. For the remainder of this fiscal year, we plan to continue to add new learning centers as well as classrooms to existing learning centers, but at a slower pace than in the first half of the year," Mr. Zhang said.

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, continued, "In addition to strong top line results, we had better-than-expected net income growth of 45.4% year-on-year in the second quarter. In coming quarters, we expect to incur higher year-on-year growth in operational costs and expenses as we will bear the impact of past quarters' center and classroom additions as well as invest further in center capacity and the human capital needed to support our current operations and new businesses. In our approach to network expansion, we will continue to be disciplined, employing a combination of scaling up existing facilities and investing in new centers."

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the third quarter of fiscal year 2014 are expected to be between US$69.5 million and US$71.0 million, representing an increase of 42% to 45% on a year-over-year basis.

Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results

• Net revenues increased by 35.1% year-over-year to US$92.0 million from US$68.1 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS") were US$0.30 and US$0.29, respectively. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, excluding share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.32 and US$0.31, respectively.

"The second quarter was an outstanding quarter for our business. Net revenues increased by 35.1% year-over-year to US$92.0 million, exceeding the top-end of our guidance by US$1.5 million. Revenue growth was supported by a 24.8% increase in enrollments. Our small class business in markets other than Beijing and Shanghai continued to perform well, and accounted for 35% of small class revenues compared to 22% during the same period last year. In addition, our Shanghai operation maintained its solid revenue growth trajectory on the back of continued strong enrollment increases in the summer semester," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"Given the improved learning center utilization, we took the opportunity to more aggressively ramp up our tutoring network capacity in the quarter. We added a net of nine learning centers, bringing the total to 264 centers, as compared to 255 at the end of the first fiscal quarter. In terms of classroom capacity, we signed leases for a net 247 additional classrooms in the quarter for our small class business, bringing us to a net 351 additional classrooms for the first half of the year. For the remainder of this fiscal year, we plan to continue to add new learning centers as well as classrooms to existing learning centers, but at a slower pace than in the first half of the year," Mr. Zhang said.

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, continued, "In addition to strong top line results, we had better-than-expected net income growth of 45.4% year-on-year in the second quarter. In coming quarters, we expect to incur higher year-on-year growth in operational costs and expenses as we will bear the impact of past quarters' center and classroom additions as well as invest further in center capacity and the human capital needed to support our current operations and new businesses. In our approach to network expansion, we will continue to be disciplined, employing a combination of scaling up existing facilities and investing in new centers."

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the third quarter of fiscal year 2014 are expected to be between US$69.5 million and US$71.0 million, representing an increase of 42% to 45% on a year-over-year basis.

 First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2014

• Net revenues increased by 24.5% year-over-year to US$61.4 million from US$49.3 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Income from operations increased by 10.8% to US$6.7 million, from US$6.0 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013.
• Net income attributable to TAL increased by 62.7% year-over-year to US$8.1 million from US$5.0 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Non-GAAP net income attributable to TAL, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, increased by 38.5% year-over-year to US$9.9 million from US$7.2 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS") were both US$0.10. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, excluding share-based compensation expenses, were both US$0.13. Each ADS represents two Class A common shares.

"We are pleased to report first fiscal quarter results that reflect a solid quarter of execution-on-plan. Net revenues increased by 24.5% year-over-year to $61.4 million, over $2 million above the top end of our guidance. Revenue growth was supported by a 17.1% increase in enrollments. As expected, our small class business in markets other than Beijing and Shanghai remained the key engine of our growth. These cities accounted for 34% of small class revenues in the first quarter, compared to only 21% during the same period in the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, the positive momentum in Shanghai continued in the first quarter, indicating our Shanghai tutoring business has turned the corner following a year of transition," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"Over the coming years, we will continue to expand our overall network capacity and footprint, building upon the success we have had in generating increasingly meaningful revenues contributions from cities outside of Beijingand Shanghai over the last three years. At the same time, we will put in place a multi-brand architecture to support the development of each of our family of top quality K-12 tutoring services brands. The first step will be to change the name of our umbrella brand from 'Xueersi' to a new name in Chinese to be announced next month. 'Xueersi' will remain the brand name of our small class math and science business and operate alongside our Lejiale English, Dongxuetang Chinese, Mobby pre-school, xueersi.com online school, and Zhikang 1-on-1 brands," Mr. Zhang said.

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, continued, "As planned, we have re-entered the investment stage in the first quarter. Even though we had no net change in the number of centers, we added 137 classrooms across our network for our small class business in this quarter. With this expansion, we are well on track to achieve our planned addition of at least 150 classrooms in fiscal year 2014."

"In addition to solid top line results, we had better-than-expected net income growth of 62.7% year-on-year on the back of exchange, interest income, and short-term investment gains as well as savings from certain operational expenses. We expect to continue to incur increased operational costs and expenses in coming quarters as we invest in ongoing center expansion as well as the human capital necessary to drive both competitive advantage in our core business and expansion into new businesses."

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the second quarter of fiscal year 2014 are expected to be between US$88.5 million and US$90.5 million, representing an increase of 30% to 33% on a year-over-year basis.

Fourth Quarter 2013 Financial Results

• Net Revenues of US$59.6 million, representing a 14.2% increase from US$52.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012
• Gross profit increased by 19.2% to US$28.3 million, from US$23.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012.
• Basic and diluted net income per ADS were both US$0.09 in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013. Non-GAAP basic and Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were both US$0.11.

"During the fourth quarter, the small class business in markets other than Beijing and Shanghai once again drove our top line growth, more than doubling revenues and enrollments versus the year ago period. These cities contributed 29% of small class revenues in the fourth quarter versus 16% in the same period of the previous year, demonstrating the continued geographic diversification of our business. Another highlight is that our Shanghai business picked up again in the quarter following a period of transition in which we managed our growth while further improving teaching quality and curriculum.

"In the coming fiscal year, we plan to undertake new content initiatives to enhance our core competency as a specialized, top-level tutoring services provider in the market. We will maintain our organizational focus on the math and science areas, with additional emphasis on the broader math and sciences curriculum offered in middle schools and high schools. At the same time, we plan to invest in further enhancing our LeJiaLe-branded English offering to make it an even more attractive cross-sell to our students. Finally, we will increase investments that bring our business closer to the cross-section of where education meets technology. Specifically, we will promote more refined assessment metrics at each level in our curriculum, an ever more interactive classroom experience and greater convenience in the class registration process," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, continued, "I am pleased fourth quarter revenues came in as we expected, given the unfavorable timing of the Chinese New Year holiday this year and the ongoing impact from the policy change in Beijing."

"On the whole, I am satisfied with the operating leverage we have achieved for this harvest year, especially in light of the unexpected disruption to our Beijing business beginning in the third quarter, which affected both our small class and 1-on-1 businesses in that city. For the full fiscal year 2013, total revenues surpassed the US$200 million mark, increasing by over 27%. We delivered operating income growth of 49.4% year-over-year and operating margin was 13.9%, up by 210 basis points versus fiscal year 2012. Our balance sheet remains strong at over US$200 million in cash, cash equivalents, and term deposits, even after returning to shareholders through share buyback and a special dividend a combined over US$40 million last year. With this solid foundation, and ongoing positive growth momentum in cities outside of Beijing, we are ready to re-enter the investment stage in our business in fiscal 2014," Mr. Kauffman added.

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the first quarter of fiscal year 2014 are expected to be betweenUS$57.7 million and US$59.2 million, representing an increase of 17% to 20% on a year-over-year basis.

Second Quarter 2013 Results

• For the second quarter of fiscal year 2013, TAL reported net revenues of US$68.1 million, representing a 32.3% increase from US$51.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2012.
• Non-GAAP net income attributable to TAL, which excludes share-based compensation expenses, increased by 36.8% to US$18.1 million, from US$13.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2012.
• Non-GAAP basic and Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.23 in the second quarter of fiscal year 2013 vs $0.17 in prior year quarter.

"I am pleased to report solid top and bottom line results in the second fiscal quarter, which underscore how well we have executed on our plan to improve the quality of our revenue growth this year. During the quarter, we further progressed in better utilizing our learning center network. We closed underperforming, mostly one-on-one, centers while at the same time we grasped opportunities to open new small class centers in new markets. This continued ability to replicate our model in new markets led to our small class business in cities other than Beijing and Shanghai contributing 22% of total small class revenues in the second fiscal quarter versus 11% in the same period last year and 21% in the previous quarter," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"Beginning with the fall term, based on a new policy adopted by the Beijing Education Commission, we have amended and upgraded the mathematics course offerings in our primary school classes in Beijing. We expect this adjustment to our curriculum to have a near-term impact on student enrollments in our third and fourth fiscal quarters, but believe over a longer time frame the improvements we are now making will support the ongoing health and sustainable growth of our business by providing students with an even more enjoyable and effective environment to pursue their studies."

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, continued, "Once again this quarter, revenues exceeded our guidance. Growth of operating income and net income outpaced revenue growth and resulted in margin expansion, due mainly to a combination of more effective utilization of learning centers and budgetary discipline. As we believe we have ample room for further growth, particularly in the new cities where we are relatively underpenetrated, we plan to continue to make the appropriate investment to realize this business opportunity."

"Furthermore, we are happy to announce that the Board of Directors has approved our first ever dividend after we became a listed company of 25 cents per common share, or 50 cents per ADS. We believe this is a suitable strategy to achieve capital returns for our shareholders at this time," Mr. Kauffman added.

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the third quarter of fiscal year 2013 are expected to be between US$48.0 million and US$49.2 million, representing an increase of 18% to 21% on a year-over-year basis.

Taking into account the near-term impact of the new Beijing policy, the company is adjusting its full year guidance from that provided on February 29, 2012 and reaffirmed on July 24, 2012. For the fiscal year ending February 28, 2013, the Company expects total net revenues to be in the estimated range of US$227.2 million to US$232.6 million, representing an increase of 28% to 31% year-over-year.

Highlights for the Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2013

• Net revenues increased by 32.3% year-over-year to US$68.1 million from US$51.4 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Income from operations increased by 65.1% to US$16.7 million, from US$10.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2012.
• Net income attributable to TAL increased by 49.7 % year-over-year to US$16.0 million from US$10.7 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Non-GAAP net income attributable to TAL, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, increased by 36.8 % year-over-year to US$18.1 million from US$13.2 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS")(1) were both US$0.21. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, excluding share-based compensation expenses, were both US$0.23.

"I am pleased to report solid top and bottom line results in the second fiscal quarter, which underscore how well we have executed on our plan to improve the quality of our revenue growth this year. During the quarter, we further progressed in better utilizing our learning center network. We closed underperforming, mostly one-on-one, centers while at the same time we grasped opportunities to open new small class centers in new markets. This continued ability to replicate our model in new markets led to our small class business in cities other than Beijing and Shanghai contributing 22% of total small class revenues in the second fiscal quarter versus 11% in the same period last year and 21% in the previous quarter," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"Beginning with the fall term, based on a new policy adopted by the Beijing Education Commission, we have amended and upgraded the mathematics course offerings in our primary school classes in Beijing. We expect this adjustment to our curriculum to have a near-term impact on student enrollments in our third and fourth fiscal quarters, but believe over a longer time frame the improvements we are now making will support the ongoing health and sustainable growth of our business by providing students with an even more enjoyable and effective environment to pursue their studies."

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, continued, "Once again this quarter, revenues exceeded our guidance. Growth of operating income and net income outpaced revenue growth and resulted in margin expansion, due mainly to a combination of more effective utilization of learning centers and budgetary discipline. As we believe we have ample room for further growth, particularly in the new cities where we are relatively underpenetrated, we plan to continue to make the appropriate investment to realize this business opportunity."

"Furthermore, we are happy to announce that the Board of Directors has approved our first ever dividend after we became a listed company of 25 cents per common share, or 50 cents per ADS. We believe this is a suitable strategy to achieve capital returns for our shareholders at this time," Mr. Kauffman added.

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the third quarter of fiscal year 2013 are expected to be between US$48.0 million and US$49.2 million, representing an increase of 18% to 21% on a year-over-year basis.

Taking into account the near-term impact of the new Beijing policy, the company is adjusting its full year guidance from that provided on February 29, 2012 and reaffirmed on July 24, 2012. For the fiscal year ending February 28, 2013, the Company expects total net revenues to be in the estimated range ofUS$227.2 million to US$232.6 million, representing an increase of 28% to 31% year-over-year.

Highlights for the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2013

• Net revenues increased by 48.4% year-over-year to US$49.3 million from US$33.2 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Income from operations increased by 74.8% to US$6.0 million, from US$3.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012.
• Net income attributable to TAL increased by 8.2 % year-over-year to US$5.0 million from US$4.6 million in the same period of the prior year.
• Both basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS")[1] were US$0.06. Both non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, excluding share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.09.
• Total student enrollments during the first quarter of fiscal year 2013 increased by 34.1% year-over-year to approximately 164,510.
• Total physical network grew to 270 learning centers as of May 31, 2012 from 199 learning centers as of May 31, 2011. The Company had no net additions of learning centers in the quarter.

"I am pleased to report that top line results in our first fiscal quarter once again exceeded our expectations. As planned, we drove strong revenue growth through greater utilization of our existing centers. Although we had no net additions to learning centers in the quarter, we took opportunities to expand existing facilities where appropriate. On a geographic basis, growth was driven mainly by Beijing and Shanghai, while cities outside of Beijing and Shanghai also continued to perform well, especially for our small class business. Small class revenues from cities other than Beijing and Shanghai contributed 21% of small class revenues in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013, versus 8% in the same period last year and 16% in the previous quarter," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang. "In the coming quarters, we will seek to manage our revenue growth in the context of the overall health of our business, first and foremost ensuring we are providing a high-quality learning experience to our students in each of the fifteen cities in which we have learning centers."

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, continued, "On the cost and expense side, our focus remains on combining long-term investment with optimization opportunities. During the first quarter, we further improved center utilization, resulting in a reversal of the margin decline that occurred in recent quarters. In particular, our Zhikang-branded 1-on-1 business performed well, posting its highest-ever quarterly revenue total. Zhikang utilization rates, and corresponding profitability levels, were also seasonally higher during the first quarter as more students typically take 1-on-1 tutoring ahead of the Chinese high school and college entrance examinations each year.

Overall, we are pleased with the solid revenue and operating income growth we achieved in the quarter, demonstrating our ability to effectively utilize the large investment in our learning center network we put in place last year. At the same time, at this early stage in the company's development and given the large opportunity presented by China's fast-growing after-school tutoring market, margin expansion while desirable is not our highest priority. Over the coming quarters, we will continue to focus on the health of the business for the long term and invest aggressively in our core assets and the operational support and systems required to sustain our successful business expansion."

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the second quarter of fiscal year 2013 are expected to be between US$64.8 million and US$67.4 million, representing an increase of 26% to 31% on a year-over-year basis.

For the fiscal year ending February 28, 2013, the Company expects total net revenues to be in the estimated range of US$230.8 million to US$239.7 million, representing an increase of 30% to 35% year-over-year.

These estimates reflect the Company's current expectation, which is subject to change.

Fourth Quarter 2012 Results

• Net revenues increased by 55.2% year-over-year to US$52.2 million from US$33.7 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.
• Net income from continuing operations decreased by 9.5% year-over-year to US$7.6 million from US$8.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.
• Net income attributable to TAL decreased by 10.2 % year-over-year to US$7.6 million from US$8.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.
• Non-GAAP(1) net income attributable to TAL, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, decreased by 17.4 % year-over-year to US$9.0 million from US$10.9 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.
• Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS")(2) were US$0.10 and US$0.10, respectively. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, in each case excluding share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.12 and US$0.12, respectively vs $0.14 in prior year quarter.

"I am pleased to report that in our fourth fiscal quarter revenue growth once again exceeded our guidance and student enrollments continued to show strong momentum. Fiscal 2012 as a whole was a year of successful business expansion and enlarged market presence. We more than doubled the number of learning centers in our network and rolled out to eight new cities during the year. We also continued to enhance our product offering in our core small class business, made significant progress in online courses, and introduced a new tutoring format branded 'Mobby' to address the highly complementary pre-K market. In addition, we began to put into place a multi-level business unit structure with headquarters functions as the organizational foundation for our long-term growth and scaling," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang.

"In fiscal year 2013, we aim to balance growth opportunities with our ambition to further solidify the basis of our leading and innovative education brand. We believe the time is right to build upon the traction we have established over the course of the last fiscal year in the 14 cities in which we now have learning centers. At the same time, we will continue to enhance our competitive strengths, particularly the top quality content and curriculum and outstanding teacher resources of our proven small-class business model," Mr. Zhang commented.

Mr. Joseph Kauffman, Chief Financial Officer, continued, "For our one-on-one business, our primary objective is not market share but managing the growth for continued profitability. On the back of ongoing strong topline performance, we maintained our efforts begun in the previous quarter to increase learning center utilization and implement cost and expense controls. As a result, our one-on-one business was again profitable in the fourth quarter."

"In the quarters ahead, we will continue to focus on the long-term health of our business. We will invest aggressively in our core assets and the operational support and systems required to sustain our successful business expansion. At the same time, we will look for cost and expense optimization opportunities and increased scalability in our business model," Mr. Kauffman added.

Deferred Revenue
As of February 29, 2012, the Company's deferred revenue balance was US$85.6 million compared to US$50.7 million as of February 28, 2011, representing an increase of 68.9% versus the same period of the previous year.

Business Outlook

Based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the fiscal quarter ending May 31, 2012 are expected to be between US$44.2 million and US$45.8 million, representing an increase of 33% to 38% on a year-over-year basis. This estimate reflects the Company's current expectation, which is subject to change.

For fiscal year ending February 28,2013, the Company expects total net revenues to be in the estimated range of US$230.8 million to US$239.7 million, representing an increase of 30% to 35% year-over-year, assuming no material change in exchange rates.

On 02/11/2011 we added TAL to the GeoSpecial list @ $34.89

Catalyst: Strong fourth quarter 2010 results. Adjusted EPS for fourth quarter 2010 were $0.76 versus $0.26 in fourth quarter 2009.  See our GeoSpecial notes from 2/11/2011

We are now removing TAL from the GeoSpeicial List @ $36.44

Potential road blocks: Although managements comments were bullish in fiscal 2011 year end release, a weak  GeoPowerRanking (GPR) of negative 8 prompts us to take TAL off the GeoSpecial list.  We will continue to look for positive news that could potentially change the EPS growth outlook.

• Peak performance: Reached a high of  $40.17 on 02/27/2012 for a maiximum potential return of 15%
• Current Price: $36.28

• TAL reported Adjusted pre-tax income of $1.57 per fully diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2011, an increase of 0.6% from the third quarter and an increase of nearly 34% from the fourth quarter of 2010. TAL focuses on its adjusted pre-tax results since it does not currently pay any material cash taxes and does not expect that it will for the next several years.

• TAL reported leasing revenues of $124.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2011, an increase of 2.6% from the third quarter and an increase of 31.3% from the fourth quarter of 2010.

• During 2011, TAL invested nearly $775 million in new container purchases and sale-leaseback transactions, purchasing over 270,000 TEU of dry containers and approximately 13,000 TEU of refrigerated containers, leading to a 24.9% increase in revenue earning assets in 2011.

• TAL announced a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share payable on March 29, 2012 to shareholders of record as of March 8, 2012.

“TAL’s results in the fourth quarter of 2011 provide a strong ending to an outstanding year” commented Brian M. Sondey, President and CEO of TAL International. “Our Adjusted pretax income for 2011 increased over 90% from 2010, as we benefitted from a full year of exceptional operating performance and as we continued to make aggressive investments to grow our container fleet. In 2011, TAL generated $6.04 of Adjusted pretax income per fully diluted common share and invested nearly $775 million in our container fleet. The high level of investment led to 25% growth in our revenue earning assets and has helped TAL build a strong platform for future profitability since the vast majority of containers added to our fleet were placed on multi-year, long-term leases with the world’s largest shipping lines.”

“Our strong performance in 2011 was supported by attractive market fundamentals. The supply / demand balance for containers was exceptionally tight at the beginning of the year, following the extreme container shortage that developed as trade volumes recovered in 2010; and the supply of containers remained tight throughout 2011 due to solid containerized trade growth, high new container prices and a reluctance of many of our shipping line customers to purchase new containers directly due to financial constraints. In this environment, we were able to maintain very high utilization, increase our average lease rates, and benefit from exceptionally high used container sale prices and disposal gains.”

“Our market environment and our financial performance remained strong in the fourth quarter, and despite some moderation in used container sale prices and disposal gains, we finished 2011 with a record quarter for profitability. We finished the year with exceptional operating performance as well. Excluding off-hire equipment designated for sale, our utilization averaged 98.6% for the fourth quarter of 2011 and stood at 98.1% as of February 10, 2012.”

Outlook

Mr. Sondey continued, “Looking forward, we currently expect many of the market conditions which supported our strong performance in 2011 to continue this year. Leasing company depot inventories of used containers currently remain very low, leasing company and shipping line factory inventories of new containers are currently moderate, most industry participants are expecting moderate levels of containerized trade growth to continue in 2012, and we expect most of our customers to continue to be reluctant to purchase large volumes of new containers directly. Based on this, we expect our utilization to remain historically high in 2012 and expect to continue to have attractive opportunities to invest in our fleet and grow our business.”

“The first quarter typically represents the weakest quarter of the year for us since it is the slow season for dry containers. In 2012, we expect additional pressure in the first quarter as used container sale prices and our disposal gains continue to trend down toward historically normal levels. As a result, we expect our Adjusted pretax income to decrease from the fourth quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012. After the first quarter, we expect ongoing investment in our fleet together with continued high utilization to offset further effects of normalizing sale prices, and we expect our profitability and returns to remain at a historically high level throughout 2012.”

“The main risks we see to our positive expectations for this year include a renewed severe global recession and the potential for a major customer default. We don’t currently consider either of these events likely, but we are wary of a variety of potential event risks for 2012 due to the current high level of uncertainty in the global economy and the significant financial pressures facing our customers.”

Third Quarter 2012 Results

Third Quarter 2011 Results

• Leasing revenues for the third quarter of 2011 were $120.9 million compared to $106.5 million in the second quarter of 2011, and $85.7 million in the third quarter of 2010. Adjusted EBITDA (2), including principal payments on finance leases, was $131.6 million for the quarter versus $121.8 million in the second quarter of 2011, and $90.3 million in the third quarter of 2010.
• Adjusted net income (3), excluding gains and losses on interest rate swaps and the write-off of deferred financing costs, was $33.8 million for the third quarter of 2011, compared to $33.0 million in the second quarter of 2011, and $18.5 million in the third quarter of 2010. Adjusted net income per fully diluted common share was $1.01 in the third quarter versus $0.99 in the second quarter and $0.60 in the third quarter of 2010.

“TAL delivered another outstanding quarter of operational and financial results in the third quarter of 2011,” commented Brian M. Sondey, President and CEO of TAL International. “Our strong performance in the third quarter continued to be supported by favorable market conditions including moderately positive trade growth, reduced direct purchasing of containers by our customers and an overall tight supply / demand balance for containers globally. The utilization of our container fleet averaged 98.4% for the third quarter, and stood at 98.1% as of October 26, 2011. Our leasing revenues increased 13.5% from the second quarter as we benefited from a full period of revenue from containers placed on-hire during the second quarter and as new and sale-leaseback units continued to go on-hire in the third quarter. Sale prices for used containers remained at historically high levels during the third quarter leading to exceptionally high gains on our used container disposals. Our strong operating performance led to excellent financial results, and we generated $1.56 of Adjusted pre-tax income per share during the third quarter of 2011, an increase of approximately 2% from the high level achieved in the second quarter of 2011 and an increase of nearly 70% from the third quarter of 2010.”

Outlook

Mr. Sondey continued, “In general, we expect our operating and financial performance to remain strong for the rest of the year. We expect our leasing revenues to grow moderately from the third quarter to the fourth quarter despite the end of the peak season for dry containers as we will benefit from a full period of revenue from containers placed on hire in the third quarter. However, we expect disposal gains to decrease as used container sale prices begin to return to historical levels. Overall, we expect our Adjusted pre-tax income in the fourth quarter of 2011 to be flat or down slightly from the third quarter level."

“Looking forward into 2012, we currently expect the market conditions supporting our strong performance – solid trade growth, a favorable supply / demand balance for containers and limited direct container purchases by our customers – to continue into next year. Based on this, we expect our utilization to remain historically high in 2012 and expect to continue to have attractive opportunities to invest in our fleet and grow our business. Leasing revenues for 2012 should be well above the 2011 level due to the strong growth achieved over the course of this year and likely opportunities for investments next year. However, we expect used container sale prices to continue to moderate and we expect that our disposal gains will decrease from the very high levels reached in 2011 and be more in line with our historical experience next year."

“The main risks we see to our positive expectations for 2012 include a renewed severe global recession and the potential for a major customer default. We don’t currently consider either of these events likely, but we are wary of a variety of potential risks for 2012 due to the current increased level of uncertainty in the global economy and the renewed financial pressures facing our customers.”

Second quarter ended June 30, 2011.

TAL reported Adjusted Net Income of $0.99 per fully diluted common share for the second quarter of 2011, an increase of 11% from the first quarter of 2011 and an increase of over 100% from the second quarter of 2010.

TAL has continued to invest heavily in new equipment during the first half of 2011. As of July 27, 2011, TAL has invested over $700 million in new container purchases or sale-leaseback transactions. Approximately 75% of this equipment (together with TAL’s beginning inventory of uncommitted factory units as of January 1, 2011) is either on-hire or committed to lease transactions.

On April 6, 2011, TAL completed a public offering in which it sold 2,500,000 shares of common stock. TAL’s net proceeds from the offering were $85.5 million.

TAL announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share payable on September 22, 2011 to shareholders of record as of September 1, 2011. This marks the seventh consecutive quarter in which TAL has increased its dividend.

“TAL delivered another outstanding quarter of operational performance and financial results in the second quarter of 2011,” commented Brian M. Sondey, President and CEO of TAL International. “In the second quarter, we continued to benefit from favorable market conditions, and our key operating metrics remained at historically high levels. The utilization of our container fleet averaged 98.6% for the second quarter, and stood at 98.5% as of July 27, 2011. Sale prices for used containers continued to increase during the second quarter, leading to exceptionally high gains on our used container disposals, and our leasing revenue continued to increase strongly in the second quarter as new units were picked-up by customers and as units purchased through sale-leaseback transactions went on-hire. Our strong operating performance led to excellent financial results during the second quarter, and our adjusted pre-tax income per share increased 12% from the high level achieved in the first quarter of 2011 and increased over 100% from the second quarter of 2010.”

second quarter ended June 30, 2011.

“TAL delivered another outstanding quarter of operational performance and financial results in the second quarter of 2011”

“TAL delivered another outstanding quarter of operational performance and financial results in the second quarter of 2011,” commented Brian M. Sondey, President and CEO of TAL International. “In the second quarter, we continued to benefit from favorable market conditions, and our key operating metrics remained at historically high levels. The utilization of our container fleet averaged 98.6% for the second quarter, and stood at 98.5% as of July 27, 2011. Sale prices for used containers continued to increase during the second quarter, leading to exceptionally high gains on our used container disposals, and our leasing revenue continued to increase strongly in the second quarter as new units were picked-up by customers and as units purchased through sale-leaseback transactions went on-hire. Our strong operating performance led to excellent financial results during the second quarter, and our adjusted pre-tax income per share increased 12% from the high level achieved in the first quarter of 2011 and increased over 100% from the second quarter of 2010.”

“While container leasing market fundamentals remain strong overall, peak-season trade volumes have so far been less than many of our customers had anticipated. Consequently, pick-ups of new dry containers committed to lease early in 2011 have been slower than expected, and we have slowed the pace of our new dry container purchases. However, TAL’s broad product line provides multiple avenues for growth, and our customers continue to rely on leasing containers more heavily than they did before the financial crisis, which helped us secure several sale-leaseback transactions in the second quarter. As of July 27, 2011, we have purchased more than $700 million of new or sale-leaseback containers for delivery in 2011, with roughly 75% of the containers either on-hire or committed to leases.

Outlook

Mr. Sondey continued, “In general, we expect our market to remain favorable for the rest of the year. The supply / demand balance for containers remains generally tight, new container prices remain historically high, and we expect most of our customers to remain cautious about placing large orders for new containers. As a result, we expect our key operating metrics to remain strong throughout 2011.”

“Financially, growth in our leasing revenue should accelerate in the third quarter as we benefit from a full period of leasing revenue on the containers placed on-hire in the second quarter and as containers committed to leases continue to go on-hire. However, we expect sale prices and gains to start to moderate from their current record level, and we expect our adjusted pre-tax income for the third quarter to decrease slightly from the exceptional results we achieved in the second quarter. Still, we expect our operating performance, growth and profitability to remain very strong for the foreseeable future.”

First Quarter Results:

• TAL reported Adjusted pre-tax income of $1.37 per fully diluted share for the first quarter of 2011. TAL focuses on its adjusted pre-tax results since it does not currently pay any material cash taxes and does not expect that it will for the next several years.
• TAL reported Adjusted net income of $0.89 per fully diluted common share for the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 17% from the fourth quarter of 2010 and an increase of over 160% from the first quarter of 2010.
• TAL has continued investing heavily in new equipment during the first quarter of 2011. As of the end of April 2011, TAL has ordered over $450 million of containers for delivery in 2011, and has already committed much of this equipment to lease transactions.
• On April 6, 2011, the Company completed a public offering of 5,500,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. Of the total shares sold, the Company sold 2,500,000 shares of common stock and certain stockholders of the Company sold an aggregate of 3,000,000 shares of common stock. The Company’s proceeds from the offering, net of underwriting discounts, were $86.2 million.
• TAL announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.50 per share payable on June 23, 2011 to shareholders of record as of June 2, 2011, increasing total dividends declared since the September 2006 initial dividend to $5.778 per share.
  
• Adjusted pre-tax income (1), excluding gains and losses on interest rate swaps, was $42.4 million in the first quarter of 2011, compared to $36.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 and $16.2 million in the first quarter of 2010

“With our strong first quarter results, TAL is off to a great start in 2011,” commented Brian M. Sondey, President and CEO of TAL International. “We continue to benefit from an exceptionally strong market for leased containers, and our key operating metrics held firm or pushed upwards from the already high levels we achieved in the fourth quarter of last year. The utilization of our container fleet averaged 98.3% for the first quarter, and stood at 98.5% as of April 27, 2011. Our average dry container lease rates increased 7.2% in the first quarter as new containers went on-hire at rates much higher than our portfolio average and as rates on existing containers increased due to the expiration of 2009 concessions and increased rates associated with lease renewals. Sale prices for used containers increased substantially in the first quarter due to a scarcity of available used equipment, leading to exceptionally strong disposal gains and trading margins on third party containers despite limited sales and trading volumes. The ongoing improvement in our operating performance led to excellent financial results during the first quarter, and our adjusted pre-tax income increased 17% from the high level achieved in the fourth quarter of 2010.”

Mr. Sondey continued, “In general, we expect our market to remain highly favorable. The supply / demand balance for containers remains tight, new container prices remain historically high, and we expect most of our customers to remain cautious about placing large orders for new containers this year. As a result, we expect our key operating metrics such as utilization, market lease rates and used container sale prices to remain strong throughout 2011. In addition, our container investments in 2011 are currently running ahead of last year’s pace, though we will need to see pick-ups of our new units accelerate in the second quarter if we are going to approach our 2010 full year investment level.”

Fourth Quarter 2011 Results:

• Net revenues increased by 66.8% year-over-year to US$33.7 million from US$20.2 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.
• Net income from continuing operations increased by 244.4% year-over-year to US$8.4 million from US$2.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.
  Net income attributable to TAL increased by 249.4% year-over-year to US$8.4 million from US$2.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.
• Non-GAAP(1) net income attributable to TAL, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, increased by 352.0 % year-over-year to US$10.9million from US$2.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.
• Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS")(2) were US$0.11 and US$0.11, respectively. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS, in each case excluding share-based compensation expenses, were US$0.14 and US$0.14, respectively.
  

"We ended the fiscal year 2011 with another strong quarter of execution against our growth strategy," said TAL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bangxin Zhang. "Our total student enrollments grew by 18.1% from the same period last fiscal year. This solid enrollment growth in the quarter allowed us to end fiscal year 2011 with 27.2% enrollment growth, significantly above our full year enrollment growth target of 22%."   

• Based on the Company's current estimates, total revenues for the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 are expected to be between US$29.0 million and US$30.5 million, representing an increase of 41% to 49% on a year-over-year basis. This estimate reflects the Company's current expectation, which is subject to change.

This morning we coded Tal international group as a GeoSpecial

• 2011 EPS is expected to grow 34.1% to $2.91
  
• GPR of 3. For more on GeoPowerRankings please visit our blog.
  
• Pre-tax margins are over 30%
  
• Strong Management Commentary:

  Mr. Sondey continued, “Expectations for containerized trade growth in 2011 generally seem to be in the 5-10% range, and we expect shipping lines to continue to rely more heavily on leasing than they have historically, though perhaps not to the full extent they did in 2010. As a result, we generally expect the favorable market environment to continue into 2011, and expect our financial performance to continue to benefit from exceptionally high utilization, market leasing rates and used container sale prices. Also, we are off to a great start with our 2011 investments, and we have already ordered over $300 million of containers for delivery in 2011, many of which have already been committed to leases. Based on our existing new container orders and committed customer lease transactions, we expect strong sequential growth in our leasing revenue to continue at least through the first half of 2011.”

  “The first quarter typically represents our weakest quarter of the year since it is the slow season for dry containers, but this year our first quarter performance will be supported by the ongoing global shortage of containers and strong momentum in our leasing revenue. We expect our disposal volumes to remain low until the container shortage eases, though high used container sale prices and strong third-party trading margins should offset some of the impact of the low disposal volumes. Overall, assuming market conditions remain favorable, we expect our first quarter profitability in 2011 to be up slightly from the fourth quarter of 2010, and expect our profitability to increase sequentially throughout 2011 as aggressive ongoing investment and increasing average leasing rates drive continued growth in our leasing revenue.”

• Dividend Yield of 5.20%

  TAL’s Board of Directors has approved and declared a $0.45 per share quarterly cash dividend on its issued and outstanding common stock, payable on March 24, 2011 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 3, 2011.

  Mr. Sondey concluded, “We are very pleased to increase our dividend again this quarter. The increase reflects the continued growth in our cash flow and income. We have increased our dividend rapidly over the last year as our performance recovered and then surged forward, and upon payment of this latest dividend, we will have returned $5.278 in dividends per share to our shareholders since our initial dividend in September 2006.

• Strong Steady Chart
  
• Short-term valuation target: $43.65

Caveats:

• High debt to equity ratio of 4 to 1 could limit P/E expansion and impact the attainment of our short-term target. This is the sole reason we have not coded the stock as a GeoBargain.
• Stock has nearly tripled from its 52 week low.
• Stock may be a slow mover

TAL Education Group  plans for Initial Public Offering.

Company Snapshot:

Largest K-12 after-school tutoring service provider in China

Industry Snapshot:

• China had one of the world’s fastest growing economies in the past decade, with its per capita disposable income of urban households increasing at a CAGR of 12.2% from RMB6,280 ($920) in 2000 to RMB15,781 ($2,312) in 2008. This has led to increased disposable income and higher levels of consumer spending in China.
  
• According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, urban population as a percentage of China’s total population increased from 36% in 2000 to 46% in 2008. Rising urbanization is a key growth driver in China’s education spending as most employment opportunities in urban areas require higher levels of education than in rural areas. In addition, urban employment opportunities on average offer higher compensation packages, which tend to translate into higher disposable income per capita and a greater propensity to invest in education compared with rural areas.
  
• Chinese culture has always placed great emphasis on education. In dynastic China, people spent years studying in the hope of passing the government-administered civil service examinations and entering governmental services, which was deemed to be a key to success and stature in society.

Use Of proceeds:

We plan to use the net proceeds received from this offering to expand our network of learning centers and service centers, build a national training center, pay a declared cash dividend conditional upon the completion of this offering, strengthen our curriculum and course material development capabilities and improve our existing facilities, and for other general corporate purposes, including strategic investments in and acquisitions of complementary businesses, although we are not currently negotiating any such investment or acquisition.

Underwriter(s):

• Credit Suisse
• Morgan Stanley
• Piper Jaffray
• Oppenheimer & Co.

Proposed offering price: $10.00

Financial Snapshot:

Six Months Ended August 31, 2010 Compared to Six Months Ended August 31, 2009

• Net Revenues Our total net revenues increased by 60.8% from $33.0 million for to $53.0 million.
  
• Net income increased by 40.5% from $9.4 million to $13.2 million.

Fiscal Year Ended February 28, 2010 Compared to Fiscal Year Ended February 28, 2009

• Net Revenues Our total net revenues increased by 85.7% from $37.5 million to $69.6 million.
  
• Net income increased by 95.7% from $7.3 million to $14.2 million,