STI Education Systems Holdings Inc. (STI) intends to continue expanding its network of schools by building new campuses to capitalize on the "sweet spot" of profitability that it has reached.
According to STI Chairman Eusebio Tanco, their network of schools under units STI Education Services Group (STI ESG), STI West Negros University (STI WNU), and iACADEMY have already achieved the economies of scale to make the business profitable.
"The last few years we hit the economies of scale, meaning any growth in the top line will go directly to the bottom line. I think two or three years ago, we hit that sweet spot," said Tanco.
He explained that "That sweet spot is because of the model. We spent a lot on the model. I think the challenge on STI right now is capacity. We just have to build more capacity. Build more schools."
Tanco said they are also open to acquisition opportunities to speed up their expansion.
Last year, STI announced that it is acquiring the licenses, trademarks, trade names, and school-related assets owned by Philippine School of Business Administration (PSBA).
Early this month, the company said it is spending ₱950 million to build an STI ESG campus in Alabang, set for use by next year.
Last week, STI reported a profit of ₱912.2 million for the first half of its fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, up 76.17 percent from the ₱517.8 million reported in the same period of the prior year.
Revenues grew 34 percent to ₱2.63 billion, from ₱2 billion the prior year.
For its six-month results, STI attributed the growth to the 15 percent increase in student enrollment at 138,060 for school year (SY) 2024-2025, compared to 119,543 in SY 2023-2024.
STI said new students in SY 2034-2025 reached 55,052, almost at par with the number of new student enrollees reported for SY 2023-2024.
Enrollment in programs regulated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) grew 20 percent to "more than 100,000 students compared to more than 83,000 enrollees in SY 2023-2024," STI said in its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.