Majan College (University College) SAOG (BACS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Foreign Language]

Thank you very much engineer, Amir. The presentation, I think it speaks for itself, but I would like to reiterate that Majan University College is the private higher education institution established in Oman. And again, it is twice the higher education institution in Oman -- let me just go back. I mean higher education institution in the private sector in 1995 and in 2017 and 2024, it was and maybe still is the only higher education institution in Oman that is [indiscernible] accredited 2017, and secondly reaccredited in 2024 Today, other institution is reaccredited. The college has a very established and robust quality assurance man measures and policies of quality assurance are testimony of our provisions. Our Alumni secured places high profile. We have our graduates under secretaries, ex-ministers, current heads of diplomatic missions and the president of Oman Central Bank and CEOs in the different in the private [indiscernible] entities. One of the highlights as Engineer Amir mentioned is our programs and the stability that we provided in the college. And yet in 2024 we started our own awarded program that is the Business Administration program delivered in Arabic language. Today, at this point of [indiscernible], we have 600 students and first batch will graduate in February 2026. We are also upgrading our Majan Training Institute to Class A, but we are [indiscernible] in this process, but it is now an Institute and not a Unit. We introduced new programs, we will be talking about that later. This is the management faculty. It is the biggest faculty with more number of students and staff. And that's why our business administration program is one of the unique ones among education institutions. And it is actually one of the popular ones, the Business Administration General, which for accreditation by the OAAAQA in the past and it is the Oman Authority for Academic Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority for education. One of the highlights of the faculty are our two new programs, Business Analytics with Artificial Intelligence and the Fintech. We have students from the last year. So now they are in Level 4 approaching Level 5. The IT faculty again is expanded with the addition of the programs Computing in Oil & Gas and the pathway BSc Software Engineering. The new two programs that are introduced and they are picking up is Data Science, BSc in Data Science, Cybersecurity and it has pathways, Cybersecurity and Digital Archives. Digital Archie serves the purpose of digitization of data. Now we are moving away from books, files and papers, and we are digitizing all our documents so that decisions are made based on [indiscernible]. The English language faculty still is a home of two programs, the foundation program, and a Bachelor of Honors in English language, which is a very reputed degree. Colleagues are working on Digital Media and Communication program. That is a program an interdisciplinary program between the English language and the Business faculty. And we are facing now valuation of the program from our strategic partner, University of Bedfordshire. The Post Graduate [indiscernible] continues to offer an MBA and Applied Linguistic programs. These are hosted programs, and they are offered by our partner, University of Bedfordshire. And as I mentioned, we have our new program that is delivering in Arabic language, and it is the only program that is delivered in Arabic language. The Majan Training Unit offers ACCA and CMA. In the very near future, we will be announcing a new partnership that will definitely serve this sector. One thing I need to mention is that the Majan Training Institute might be offering diploma programs, vocational ones. And we will be talking about that when we announce it. The operational highlights and mentioned most of the areas. However, we are still in a very competitive environment. And this competition is growing, it's not reducing or is not decreasing. However, with the academic -- strong economic standards we have. We are managing to provide both quality of education and increasing the number of students. And quality doesn't come cheap, and quality is not easy for those who are operating it and those who are receiving it. In addition, we are looking at increasing more the number of residents at the Post Graduate level and that's why we have plans in progress for this month to submit documentation to the Ministry of Education for approval because new programs have to be submitted to the ministry not later than end of February, so that they go through the cycle of review and approval. And if we're lucky, we get them approved before September so that we have time to market and offer the programs. With the transparency we have and the quality of provisions we have in the college. We always get the support of the relevant authorities.

So taking it to our financial highlights for the financial year [indiscernible] for the year ended 31st August '25. Our total income has increased by 6%, around OMR 263,000 increase from income from last year. Our total expenses increased as well by 13%. Net profit before tax decreased by 19%. Taxation decreased by 15%. Net profit has changed from last year by a decrease of 20% to reach a net profit of OMR 735,000. And this year, it was good for our shareholders. we start 3 years from giving out dividends. This year, we have distributed around OMR 650,000 and as well as 10% bonus shares. Total income increased by 6% to reach OMR 4.9 million, up from OMR 4.6 million from last year. Mainly increase the new undergrad student and increase in other income and investment. Total expense increased by 13% to reach OMR 4 million, mainly from the increase in the -- driven by the increase in associate costs and teaching hours since we have expected number of enrollment in the MBA are for net open before tax and taxation decreased by 9%, 15%. Overall net profit decreased by 20% to reach OMR 735. Earnings per share decreased from 10 baisa per share to 8 baisa per share. The increase in rating costs reflect delivered investments in academic capacity in IT infrastructure, Post Graduate expansion and quality assurance in line with our long-term strategic priorities and [indiscernible] we commit. We remain focused on balancing growth, academic excellence and cost efficiency to protect shareholder value over the medium term. This is our second year to issue the ESG report. It's available online on MSX website as well as our financials. Of course, aligned with MSX ESG guidelines and GRI standards. We hold a strong governance framework aligning [indiscernible]. We had 100% five independent non-Executive Board of Directors. They represent clear separation between the Chairman and the executive management. We provide full commitment to Oman Vision 2040, with ESG fully embedded into our institutional strategy, academic program and our operational process. You want to take it on?

Yes. Now the strategic direction is, as always, we finalize our strategic plan, 2021, '25, and we created the new one. It was a consultative process we sort feedback from stakeholders, students from within and from outside, students, parents, employers, alumni and the different entities in the country. And that consultative approach led to having new themes, and these themes stress teaching student success, refresh innovation and [indiscernible] ownership. And what is new here, as I mentioned earlier, to make strategic decisions, you need data. We collect data in all aspects of the operations of the college and that helps us to made our decisions. We also emphasized the financial and environmental sustainability. All our plan all our strategic themes in our strategic plan, they have operational plans for the different entities in the college. I mean the apartments and the faculties and each one of them has KPIs so that we can scientifically measure the progress and the achievement of our plans. Two days ago, we had our Academic Board. The Academic Board takes place twice a year, and it is the highest academic authority or forum in the college. And I was pleased because the different departments and faculties in the College achieved almost or partially achieved almost 50% of their operational plans, measuring the KPIs, which is really good. The fact that we are providing high-quality education, increasing the number of students, yet, we are ensuring that efficiency plays a role, whether it is in the resources we have or whether it is in financials. The future outlook is, as I mentioned, that we are in the process of providing programs that would help us to secure our continued reputed position among higher education. In institutions, as I mentioned earlier, it's a very competitive environment. And we look into the studying the market dynamics, and this is ever changing with the presence of artificial intelligence that is competing with any provisions in all areas of the industry. The challenge is we have to use AI responsively and ethically, but also we need to use it innovatively. With our unique position as a public listed company, we sell the community in both ways. We've proved that higher education in the private sector is not just about making money. You can be making money and at the same time, you provide high quality. And I think we led that very well until this minute. Although our profit reduced, but we are picking up. And we never incurred any loses. And our quality of education is not really affected at any point of time. So with that, I would be more than happy to answer any questions. Mr. Chairman, Engineer Amir, [indiscernible] is muted.

Okay. I'm back. Does it finish? Everybody, no more questions everybody? Okay. [Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language] Engineer Amir.

[Foreign Language].