As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
January 16, 2008
Registration
No. 333-148512
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Amendment No. 1
to
Form F-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
ATA Inc.
(Exact name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
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Cayman Islands
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8200
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Not Applicable
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(State or Other Jurisdiction of
Incorporation or Organization)
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(Primary Standard Industrial
Classification Code Number)
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(I.R.S. Employer
Identification Number)
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8th Floor,
Tower E
6 Gongyuan West Street,
Jian Guo Men Nei
Beijing 100005, China
Telephone: 86-10-6518-1122
(Address and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of
Registrants Principal Executive Offices)
CT Corporation System
111 Eighth Avenue,
13th Floor
New York, New York 10011
(212) 894-8940
Copies to:
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Howard Zhang, Esq.
OMelveny & Myers LLP
37th Floor,
Yin Tai Centre, Office Tower
No. 2 Jianguomenwai Avenue
Beijing 100022, China
86-10-6563-4200
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David Johnson, Esq.
OMelveny & Myers LLP
1999 Avenue of the Stars,
7th Floor
Los Angeles
CA 90067-6035
(310) 553-6700
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Chris K.H. Lin, Esq.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
35th Floor,
ICBC Tower
3 Garden Road
Central, Hong Kong SAR, China
852-2514-7600
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Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the
public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of
this registration statement.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be
offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to
Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the
following
box. o
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an
offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act,
please check the following box and list the Securities Act
registration statement number of the earlier effective
registration statement for the same
offering. o
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to
Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following
box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of
the earlier effective registration statement for the same
offering. o
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to
Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following
box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of
the earlier effective registration statement for the same
offering. o
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
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Proposed Maximum |
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Proposed Maximum |
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Amount of |
Title of Each Class of |
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Amount to be |
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Offering Price per |
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Aggregate |
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Registration |
Securities to be Registered(1)(2) |
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Registered(2)(3) |
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Unit(3) |
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Offering Price(3) |
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Fee |
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Common shares, par value $0.01 per share
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11,210,226 |
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$5.75 |
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$64,458,800 |
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$2,533(4)
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(1) |
American depositary shares, or ADSs, evidenced by American
depositary receipts issuable upon deposit of the common shares
registered hereby will be registered under a separate
registration statement on
Form F-6. Each ADS
represents two common shares. |
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(2) |
Includes (a) common shares represented by ADSs that
may be purchased by the underwriters pursuant to their
overallotment option and (b) all common shares represented
by ADSs initially offered and sold outside the United States
that may be resold from time to time in the United States either
as part of the distribution or within 40 days after the
later of the effective date of this registration statement and
the date the securities are first bona fide offered to the
public. |
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(3) |
Estimated solely for the purpose of computing the amount of the
registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(a) under the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended. |
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(4) |
Previously paid. |
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The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on
such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective
date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which
specifically states that this registration statement shall
thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a)
of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until the
registration statement shall become effective on such date as
the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may
determine.
The information
in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be
changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration
statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is
effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell
these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these
securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not
permitted.
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Subject to Completion,
Preliminary Prospectus dated
January 16, 2008
PROSPECTUS
4,874,012 American Depositary Shares
ATA Inc.
Representing 9,748,024 Common Shares
This is ATA Inc.s initial public offering. ATA Inc., or
ATA, is offering 4,874,012 American depositary shares, or ADSs.
Each ADS represents two common shares.
We expect the public offering price to be between $9.50 and
$11.50 per ADS. Currently, no public market exists for the
ADSs or the common shares. We have applied to have our ADSs
listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol
ATAI.
Investing in the ADSs involves risks that are described in
the Risk Factors section beginning on page 9 of
this prospectus.
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Per ADS |
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Total |
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Public offering price
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$ |
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$ |
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Underwriting discount
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$ |
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$ |
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Proceeds, before expenses, to ATA
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$ |
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$ |
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The underwriters may also purchase up to an additional
731,101 ADSs from us at the public offering price, less the
underwriting discount, within 30 days from the date of this
prospectus to cover overallotments.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state
securities regulator has approved or disapproved of these
securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or
complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal
offense.
The ADSs are expected to be delivered against payment on or
about ,
2008.
Merrill Lynch & Co.
Piper Jaffray
Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP
The date of this prospectus
is ,
2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
You should rely only on the information contained in this
prospectus. Neither we nor the underwriters have authorized
anyone to provide you with information that is different from
that contained in this prospectus. This prospectus may only be
used where it is legal to offer and sell these securities. The
information in this prospectus is only accurate as of the date
of this prospectus.
Through and
including ,
2008 (the
25th day
after the date of this prospectus), all dealers effecting
transactions in these securities, whether or not participating
in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This
is in addition to dealers obligation to deliver a
prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their
unsold allotments or subscriptions.
(i)
Conventions That Apply to This Prospectus
Unless we indicate otherwise, information is presented in this
prospectus assuming that:
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the underwriters will not exercise their option to purchase
additional ADSs to cover overallotments; and |
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all of our outstanding preferred shares will be converted into
common shares immediately prior to the completion of this
offering. |
In this prospectus,
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all references to years are to the calendar year from
January 1 to December 31 unless specifically stated
otherwise, and references to our fiscal year or years are to the
fiscal year or years ended March 31; |
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we, us, our company,
our and ATA refer to ATA Inc., and its
subsidiaries and affiliated PRC entity as the context requires; |
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China, Chinese and PRC refer
to the Peoples Republic of China, excluding for purposes
of this prospectus Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; |
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RMB and Renminbi refer to the legal
currency of China, and U.S. dollars,
dollars, and $ refer to the legal
currency of the United States; and |
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U.S. GAAP refers to generally accepted
accounting principles in the United States. |
This prospectus contains translations of Renminbi amounts into
U.S. dollars at specified rates. Unless otherwise noted,
all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollar amounts were
made at the noon buying rate in the City of New York for cable
transfers of Renminbi as certified for customs purposes by the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as of September 28, 2007,
which was RMB7.4928 to $1.00. We make no representation that the
Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts referred to in this
prospectus could have been or could be converted into
U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any
particular rate or at all. The Chinese government restricts or
prohibits the conversion of Renminbi into foreign currency and
foreign currency into Renminbi for certain types of
transactions. On January 15, 2008, the noon buying rate was
RMB7.2345 to $1.00.
This prospectus contains information and statistics relating to
Chinas economy and the industries in which we operate
derived from various publications issued by Chinese governmental
entities and other third parties which have not been
independently verified by us, the underwriters or any of their
respective affiliates or advisers. The information in such
third-party sources may not be consistent with other information
compiled in or outside China.
We commissioned International Data Corporation, or IDC, a
leading provider of global IT research and advice, to prepare a
report for the purpose of providing various industry and other
information and illustrating our position in the computer-based
testing services market in China. Information from this report
appears in Industry, Business and other sections of this
prospectus. We have taken such care as we consider reasonable in
the reproduction and extraction of information from the IDC
report and other third-party sources.
(ii)
SUMMARY
This summary highlights selected information contained in
greater detail elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary may
not contain all of the information that you should consider
before investing in our ADSs. You should carefully read the
entire prospectus, including the Risk Factors
section and our consolidated financial statements and the
accompanying notes, before making an investment decision.
ATA Inc.
Our Business
We are the leading provider of computer-based testing services
in China, with the largest market share, 30.9%, in terms of
revenue in 2006, according to IDC. We also provide
career-oriented, test-based educational programs and test
preparation solutions in China. To comply with PRC law, we
operate the online portion of our test preparation solutions
business through a series of contractual arrangements with ATA
Online (Beijing) Education Technology Limited, or ATA Online, a
PRC entity owned by two of our founders and over which we do not
have direct control or direct oversight. Our clients include
professional associations, such as the China Banking Association
and the Securities Association of China, which accounted for
19.5% and 4.2%, respectively, of our net revenues for the six
months ended September 30, 2007, Chinese governmental
agencies, including the PRC Ministry of Labor, which accounted
for 8.5% of our net revenues for the same period, well-known IT
vendors, Chinese educational institutions, distributors of our
test preparation software products, and individual test
preparation services consumers. During the six months ended
September 30, 2007, approximately two million tests
were delivered using our computer-based testing technologies and
services.
We began providing computer-based testing services in 1999. We
offer comprehensive services for the creation and delivery of
computer-based tests based on our proprietary testing
technologies and test delivery platform. Our computer-based
testing services are used for professional licensure and
certification tests in various industries, including information
technology, or IT, services, banking, teaching, securities,
insurance and accounting. Our test center network comprised
1,810 authorized test centers located throughout China as of
September 30, 2007, which we believe is the largest test
center network of any commercial testing service provider in
China based on client feedback and our market experience.
Combined with our test delivery technologies, this network
allows our clients to administer large-scale nationwide tests in
a consistent, secure and cost-effective manner. We have
delivered over 23 million tests since 1999, and in July
2007 delivered tests to more than 200,000 test takers in a
single day for the China Banking Association, through our test
delivery platform.
Leveraging our testing expertise, we have expanded into
providing career-oriented educational services and test
preparation solutions. In 2002, we began offering
career-oriented course programs, which we market to Chinese
educational institutions. We develop our course programs by
integrating our testing technologies and services with IT
learning content authorized by major IT vendors such as
Microsoft China, Borland and Adobe. In March 2006, we began
offering pre-occupational training programs, which allow
students to obtain practical skills for specific job
requirements. By integrating our testing technologies with test
preparation content, we began offering targeted test preparation
solutions for certain professional licensure and certification
tests in the securities, insurance and teaching industries in
2006. ATA Online has launched online test preparation Internet
web sites in coordination with the Securities Association of
China and the China Banking Association to help candidates
across China prepare for these organizations professional
licensure and certification tests, which are delivered through
our test delivery platform. We also offer our NTET Tutorial
Platform software for training teachers for certification under
the National Teachers Skill Test of Applied Educational
Technology in Secondary and Elementary School, or NTET test,
which is delivered nationwide through our test delivery platform.
Our proprietary technologies and know-how for the creation and
delivery of computer-based tests are important to our service
capabilities. Our E-testing platform is composed of a set of
self-developed tools and applications for facilitating the
computer-based testing process, and is capable of handling
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large-scale tests and
quickly and securely transmitting, processing and storing large
amounts of data. We have also developed proprietary technologies
for the creation and operation of advanced performance-based
tests, such as our self-developed Dynamic Simulation Technology,
which leading IT certification sponsors, such as Microsoft, have
adopted for their computer-simulated tests given around the
world. We have also developed content creation technologies for
the conversion of paper-based tests into computer-based formats.
Our total net revenues have increased from RMB69.0 million
for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 to
RMB84.9 million ($11.3 million) for the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007 and from RMB32.4 million for the
six months ended September 30, 2006 to RMB76.2 million
($10.2 million) for the six months ended September 30,
2007. We had net losses of RMB24.8 million and
RMB16.8 million for the fiscal years ended March 31,
2006 and 2007, respectively, and net income of
RMB8.5 million ($1.1 million) for the six months ended
September 30, 2007.
Chinas Testing and Education Markets
China has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. As
Chinas economy continues to develop, its service
industries are playing an increasingly important role. We
believe this will increase opportunities in the testing and
education markets as people continue to seek advanced skills and
professional licenses and certifications.
China has one of the worlds largest testing markets in
terms of test takers, with 122.7 million test candidates in
2006, according to IDC. Testing has played a prominent role in
Chinese society for centuries, and this long tradition of
testing extends to professional associations and businesses in
China that rely on tests to issue professional licenses and
certifications, assess ongoing professional skills and select
job candidates. As Chinas economy has modernized and
become more dependent on technology, a growing number of test
sponsors have adopted computer-based tests in place of
traditional paper-based tests. Computer-based tests offer key
advantages over traditional paper-based tests, including easier
administration, reduced scoring errors, greater data security
and quicker results analysis. Test sponsors are increasingly
outsourcing the design and delivery of computer-based tests to
third-party service providers.
Chinas education market is experiencing rapid growth in
terms of both the number of schools and the number of students,
especially at the post-secondary higher education level.
However, a growing number of students who are unable to reach
Chinas universities are seeking alternative means to
obtain the skills necessary to succeed in the job market.
Moreover, as Internet usage becomes increasingly common, people
are turning to online resources as a means of furthering their
education and to prepare for various types of tests. Online
education and test preparation provide students the flexibility
to take interactive courses at times and in locations most
convenient to them. Online education and test preparation are
particularly attractive to working adults, and their employers,
as they seek to combine work with the pursuit of higher level
licenses and certifications.
Our Strengths, Strategies and Risks
We believe the following competitive strengths have been
instrumental in achieving our current market position and
provide the basis for our continued growth:
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our early mover advantage and leadership position in the
computer-based testing services industry in China; |
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our experience in delivering sophisticated and large-scale
computer-based tests; |
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our large test center network and scalable test delivery
platform; |
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the flexibility and customizability of our testing services; |
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our performance-based testing and test security technologies; |
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our established relationships with key test sponsors and leading
IT vendors; and |
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our experienced management team. |
Our mission is to extend our position as the leading provider of
computer-based testing services in China, and expand our
career-oriented, test-based educational programs and test
preparation solutions businesses in China, by pursuing the
following strategies:
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continue to seek opportunities in licensure and certification
testing services; |
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further enhance our technology and expand our test center
network reach; |
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leverage our testing service strengths to expand our test
preparation and educational program offerings; |
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increase recognition of our ATA brand; and |
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pursue selective strategic acquisitions and alliances, if and
when attractive opportunities arise. |
The successful execution of our strategies is subject to risks
and uncertainties, including:
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our ability to maintain profitability, as we only achieved
profitability recently and had previously been loss-making since
our inception, in addition to having an accumulated deficit of
RMB135.1 million and RMB126.6 million ($16.9 million) as of
March 31, 2007 and September 30, 2007, respectively; |
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our ability to meet challenges associated with our rapid
expansion, including our expansion into the test preparation
market; |
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market acceptance of our technologies, products and services; |
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our ability to maintain relationships with key governmental
agencies, test sponsors, educational institutions and IT
vendors; and |
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governmental policies, including policies regarding funding for
governmental agencies that sponsor tests, policies promoting
vocational education, tuition policies and policies relating to
foreign investment in Internet content distribution. |
See Risk Factors for a discussion of these and other
risks and uncertainties associated with our business and
investing in our ADSs.
Corporate Structure
Our predecessor company, American Testing Authority, Inc., a New
York company, began operations in 1999, and in that same year
established ATA Testing Authority (Beijing) Limited, or
ATA Testing, as a wholly owned subsidiary in China. In
November 2001, our founders established ATA Testing
Authority (Holdings) Limited, or ATA BVI, in the British
Virgin Islands. The following year American Testing Authority,
Inc. merged into ATA BVI and ATA BVI became our
holding company. In June 2003, we established a Chinese joint
venture company, ATA Learning (Beijing) Inc., or ATA Learning,
with Yinchuan Economic and Technological Development Zone
Investment Holding Co. Ltd., or Yinchuan Holding. In May 2005,
we exercised our call option to acquire the remaining interest
from Yinchuan Holding and converted ATA Learning into a wholly
owned subsidiary of ATA BVI.
We incorporated ATA Inc. in the Cayman Islands in September 2006
as our listing vehicle. ATA Inc. became our ultimate holding
company in November 2006 when it issued shares to the existing
shareholders of ATA BVI in exchange for all of the outstanding
shares of ATA BVI.
Due to PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign ownership of
Internet content businesses in China, we operate the online
portion of our test preparation solutions business through a
series of contractual arrangements entered into among us, ATA
Learning and ATA Online, a PRC entity owned by two of our
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founders. We do not have any direct ownership interest or direct
shareholding rights in ATA Online and as a result do not have
direct control or direct oversight over ATA Online. For a
description of these contractual arrangements, see Our
Corporate Structure and Related Party
Transactions. If the Chinese government determines that
the contractual arrangement structure through which we operate
our online test preparation business does not comply with
Chinese laws and regulations, we could be subject to penalties
and may not be able to continue that business. Moreover, any
conflicts between us and the shareholders of ATA Online, or any
failure by ATA Online or its shareholders to perform their
obligations under our contractual arrangements with them, may
materially and adversely affect our online test preparation
business and financial condition. For a detailed discussion of
the various risks and uncertainties related to these contractual
arrangements and the structure we use to operate our online test
preparation business, see Risk Factors Risks
Relating to Regulation of Our Business.
Recent Developments
The following is an estimate of certain unaudited selected
consolidated financial data for the three months ended
December 31, 2007. Because our financial statements for the
three months ended December 31, 2007 have not been
finalized and are subject to completion of our normal
quarter-end closing procedures, the unaudited selected
consolidated financial data for the three months ended
December 31, 2007 set forth below may be subject to change.
We estimate:
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total net revenues were between RMB63.0 million
($8.4 million) and RMB67.5 million
($9.0 million), compared to RMB36.3 million for the
three months ended December 31, 2006; |
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gross profit was between RMB42.8 million
($5.7 million) and RMB46.0 million
($6.1 million), compared to RMB25.9 million for the
three months ended December 31, 2006; |
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income from operations was between RMB14.8 million
($2.0 million) and RMB16.0 million
($2.1 million), compared to RMB6.6 million for the
three months ended December 31, 2006; and |
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net income was between RMB10.6 million ($1.4 million)
and RMB12.0 million ($1.6 million), compared to
RMB6.9 million for the three months ended December 31,
2006. |
Our preliminary consolidated financial data for the quarter
ended December 31, 2007 are subject to adjustment based
upon, among other things, completion of our reporting processes.
Actual results could differ materially from the estimates
provided above. For additional information regarding the various
risks and uncertainties inherent in such estimates, see
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.
Financial results for the three months ended December 31,
2007 may not be indicative of our full year results for the
fiscal year ending March 31, 2008 or future quarterly
periods. See Managements Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations for
information regarding trends and other factors that may
influence our financial results.
Our quarterly results of operations are subject to seasonal
fluctuations. In particular, net revenues from testing services
and test preparation solutions are typically lowest in the
quarter ending March 31. As a result, we expect our total
net revenues, gross profit, income from operations and net
income to be significantly lower during the three months ending
March 31, 2008 than they were for the three months ended
December 31, 2007, which we estimate will result in a net
loss from operations and a net loss for the three months ending
March 31, 2008. In addition, we may also incur a net loss
from operations and a net loss for the three months ending
June 30, 2008 depending on whether certain large-scale
tests, such as the banking licensure test, are scheduled in the
quarter ending September 30, 2008 instead of the prior
quarter. For more information, see the section entitled
Recent Developments.
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Our Offices
Our principal executive offices are located at 8th Floor,
Tower E, 6 Gongyuan West Street, Jian Guo Men Nei, Beijing
100005, the Peoples Republic of China. Our telephone
number at this address is 86-10-6518-1122, and our fax number is
86-10-6517-9517. Our web site is www.ata.net.cn. The
information contained on our web site is not part of this
prospectus.
Investor inquiries should be directed to us at the address and
telephone number of our principal executive offices set forth
above. Our agent for service of process in the United States is
CT Corporation System, located at 111 Eighth Avenue,
13th Floor,
New York, New York 10011.
The Offering
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ADSs offered by us: |
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4,874,012 ADSs. |
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The ADSs |
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Each ADS represents two common shares, par value $0.01 per
share. The ADSs will be evidenced by American depositary
receipts, or ADRs. |
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A nominee of the depositary will be the registered
holder of the common shares underlying your ADSs, and you will
have rights of an ADR holder as provided in the deposit
agreement among us, the depositary and the holders and
beneficial owners of ADSs from time to time. |
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Although we do not expect to pay cash dividends in
the foreseeable future, in the event we declare dividends on our
common shares, the depositary will pay you the cash dividends
and other distributions it receives on our common shares, after
deducting its fees and expenses, and subject to any tax
withholding requirements and whether the depositary can convert
the currency on a reasonable basis into U.S. dollars and
transfer the U.S. dollars to the United States. |
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You may surrender your ADSs to the depositary for
cancellation in exchange for common shares underlying your ADSs.
The depositary will charge you fees for such cancellations. |
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Under certain circumstances, we may amend or
terminate the deposit agreement for any reason without your
consent, and if you continue to hold our ADSs, you agree to be
bound by the deposit agreement as amended. |
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You should carefully read the section in this prospectus
entitled Description of American Depositary Shares
to better understand the terms of the ADSs. You should also read
the deposit agreement, which is an exhibit to the registration
statement that includes this prospectus. |
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ADSs outstanding immediately after the offering |
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4,874,012 ADSs. |
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Common shares outstanding immediately after this offering |
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43,378,710 common shares. |
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Option to purchase additional ADSs |
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We have granted to the underwriters an option, exercisable
within 30 days from the date of this prospectus, to
purchase up |
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to an aggregate of 731,101 additional ADSs at the initial
public offering price, less underwriting discounts, solely to
cover overallotments of ADSs, if any. |
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Depositary |
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Citibank, N.A. |
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Timing and settlement for ADSs |
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The ADSs are expected to be delivered against payment on or
around ,
2008. The ADRs evidencing the ADSs purchased in this offering
will be deposited with a custodian for, and registered in the
name of a nominee of, The Depository Trust Company, or DTC, in
New York, New York. In general, beneficial interests in the ADSs
will be shown on, and transfers of these beneficial interests
will be effected only through, records maintained by DTC and its
direct and indirect participants. |
|
|
Use of proceeds |
|
Our net proceeds from this offering are expected to be
approximately $43.8 million (assuming an initial public
offering price of $10.50 per ADS, the mid-point of the
estimated range of the initial public offering price shown on
the front cover of this prospectus, and after deducting
estimated underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses
payable by us). If the underwriters exercise their overallotment
option in full, we estimate that our net proceeds will be
approximately $50.9 million. We anticipate using a portion
of these net proceeds to develop and expand our test preparation
solutions business, to license course content from
IT vendors to expand our degree major and single course
program offerings, for marketing costs related to enhancing our
ATA brand, to fund working capital and for other
general corporate purposes, including incremental costs
associated with being a public company, and for acquisitions of
complementary assets, technologies and businesses. See Use
of Proceeds. |
|
|
Lock-up agreements |
|
We and our executive officers, directors and shareholders have
agreed, with exceptions, not to sell or transfer any of our
common shares or ADSs for 180 days after the date of this
prospectus. See Shares Eligible for Future Sale and
Underwriting. |
|
Risk factors |
|
See Risk Factors and other information included in
this prospectus for a discussion of factors you should carefully
consider before deciding to invest in our ADSs. |
|
Listing |
|
We have applied to have our ADSs listed on the Nasdaq Global
Market. Our common shares will not be listed on any exchange or
quoted for trading on any
over-the-counter
trading system. |
|
|
Nasdaq Global Market symbol |
|
We have applied to have our ADSs listed on the Nasdaq Global
Market under the symbol ATAI. |
|
6
SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA
You should read the following information with our consolidated
financial statements and related notes, Selected
Consolidated Financial and Operating Data and
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations included elsewhere in
this prospectus. Our consolidated financial statements are
prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
The following summary consolidated statements of operations data
for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 (other
than pro forma (loss) earnings per common share and ADS data),
and the summary consolidated balance sheets data as of
March 31, 2006 and 2007, are derived from our audited
consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this
prospectus and should be read in conjunction with, and are
qualified in their entirety by reference to, these consolidated
financial statements and related notes.
The summary consolidated statements of operations data for the
six months ended September 30, 2006 and 2007 and the
summary consolidated balance sheets data as of
September 30, 2007 are derived from our unaudited condensed
consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this
prospectus. We have prepared our unaudited condensed
consolidated financial statements on the same basis as our
audited consolidated financial statements. The unaudited
financial information includes all adjustments, consisting only
of normal and recurring adjustments, that we consider necessary
for a fair presentation of our financial position and operating
results for the periods presented. The unaudited results for the
six months ended September 30, 2007 may not be indicative
of our results for the full year ending March 31, 2008.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended |
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for per share and per ADS data) |
|
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total net revenues
|
|
|
69,037 |
|
|
|
84,881 |
|
|
|
32,368 |
|
|
|
76,248 |
|
|
|
10,176 |
|
Gross profit
|
|
|
35,049 |
|
|
|
43,779 |
|
|
|
13,618 |
|
|
|
43,471 |
|
|
|
5,802 |
|
(Loss) income from
operations(1)
|
|
|
(1,091 |
) |
|
|
(19,596 |
) |
|
|
(13,559 |
) |
|
|
8,736 |
|
|
|
1,166 |
|
Interest expense
|
|
|
(22,713 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
(loss)income(2)
|
|
|
(24,809 |
) |
|
|
(16,790 |
) |
|
|
(11,857 |
) |
|
|
8,530 |
|
|
|
1,138 |
|
Accretion of Series A redeemable convertible preferred
shares to redemption value
|
|
|
(13,889 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign currency exchange translation adjustment on
Series A redeemable convertible preferred shares
|
|
|
3,269 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net (loss) income (applicable) available to common shareholders
|
|
|
(35,429 |
) |
|
|
(16,790 |
) |
|
|
(11,857 |
) |
|
|
8,530 |
|
|
|
1,138 |
|
Basic (loss) earnings per common share
|
|
|
(2.16 |
) |
|
|
(0.82 |
) |
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
|
|
0.39 |
|
|
|
0.05 |
|
Diluted (loss) earnings per common share
|
|
|
(2.16 |
) |
|
|
(0.82 |
) |
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
|
|
0.23 |
|
|
|
0.03 |
|
Pro forma basic (loss) earnings per common
share(3)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(0.52 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.25 |
|
|
|
0.03 |
|
Pro forma diluted (loss) earnings per common
share(3)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(0.52 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.23 |
|
|
|
0.03 |
|
Basic (loss) earnings per
ADS(4)
|
|
|
(4.32 |
) |
|
|
(1.64 |
) |
|
|
(1.22 |
) |
|
|
0.78 |
|
|
|
0.10 |
|
Diluted (loss) earnings per
ADS(4)
|
|
|
(4.32 |
) |
|
|
(1.64 |
) |
|
|
(1.22 |
) |
|
|
0.46 |
|
|
|
0.06 |
|
Pro forma basic (loss) earnings per ADS
(3)(4)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1.04 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.50 |
|
|
|
0.06 |
|
Pro forma diluted (loss) earnings per ADS
(3)(4)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1.04 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.46 |
|
|
|
0.06 |
|
|
|
(1) |
Includes non-cash share-based compensation expenses of
RMB4.2 million, RMB2.5 million, RMB1.2 million
and RMB1.1 million ($0.1 million) for the fiscal years
ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 and the six months ended
September 30, 2006 and 2007, respectively. |
|
(2) |
Our PRC subsidiaries, ATA Testing and ATA Learning, enjoy tax
holidays provided by local and national PRC tax authorities. See
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations Taxation.
If our PRC |
7
|
|
|
subsidiaries had not enjoyed
these tax holidays, they would have had a preferential
enterprise income tax rate of 15%. The following table shows the
effects of the tax holidays for the periods indicated:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended |
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for per share data) |
|
Effect on net (loss) income (applicable) available to common
shareholders
|
|
|
(544 |
) |
|
|
155 |
|
|
|
183 |
|
|
|
231 |
|
|
|
31 |
|
Effect on basic (loss) earnings per common share
|
|
|
(0.033 |
) |
|
|
0.008 |
|
|
|
0.009 |
|
|
|
0.011 |
|
|
|
0.001 |
|
Effect on diluted (loss) earnings per common share
|
|
|
(0.033 |
) |
|
|
0.008 |
|
|
|
0.009 |
|
|
|
0.006 |
|
|
|
0.001 |
|
|
|
(3) |
Gives effect to the full conversion of preferred shares into
11,730,554 of our common shares, as if the conversion had taken
place on April 1, 2006. |
|
|
(4) |
Each ADS represents two common shares. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of March 31, |
|
|
As of September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Consolidated Balance Sheets Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
|
|
|
44,624 |
|
|
|
45,019 |
|
|
|
52,567 |
|
|
|
7,016 |
|
Total current assets
|
|
|
67,989 |
|
|
|
76,656 |
|
|
|
97,744 |
|
|
|
13,045 |
|
Total assets
|
|
|
88,384 |
|
|
|
108,165 |
|
|
|
131,034 |
|
|
|
17,488 |
|
Total current liabilities
|
|
|
53,937 |
|
|
|
45,620 |
|
|
|
59,257 |
|
|
|
7,909 |
|
Total liabilities
|
|
|
62,492 |
|
|
|
53,517 |
|
|
|
66,804 |
|
|
|
8,916 |
|
Accumulated deficit
|
|
|
(118,292 |
) |
|
|
(135,082 |
) |
|
|
(126,552 |
) |
|
|
(16,890 |
) |
Total shareholders equity
|
|
|
25,892 |
|
|
|
54,648 |
|
|
|
64,230 |
|
|
|
8,572 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended |
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other Key Operating Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Testing services:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of tests
delivered(1)
|
|
|
2,583,712 |
|
|
|
3,335,701 |
|
|
|
2,004,640 |
|
|
|
2,065,249 |
|
Test-based educational services:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of degree major course programs offered
|
|
|
36 |
|
|
|
74 |
|
|
|
74 |
|
|
|
74 |
|
|
Number of schools offering degree major course programs
|
|
|
117 |
|
|
|
137 |
|
|
|
128 |
|
|
|
135 |
|
|
Degree major
student-months(2)
|
|
|
401,415 |
|
|
|
465,856 |
|
|
|
215,650 |
|
|
|
198,178 |
|
|
Number of single course programs offered
|
|
|
58 |
|
|
|
73 |
|
|
|
58 |
|
|
|
49 |
|
|
Number of schools offering single course programs
|
|
|
129 |
|
|
|
132 |
|
|
|
119 |
|
|
|
118 |
|
|
Single course
student-months(3)
|
|
|
107,891 |
|
|
|
133,562 |
|
|
|
68,740 |
|
|
|
101,603 |
|
Test preparation solutions:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of copies of NTET software sold
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11,022 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
19,514 |
|
|
|
(1) |
Includes tests delivered through our test delivery platform and
tests using our Dynamic Simulation Technology. |
|
(2) |
Degree major student-months are calculated by
(i) multiplying the number of students in each degree major
by the number of months of that degree major course program in
the relevant period and then (ii) aggregating the number of
student-months for all of our degree major course programs
during the period. |
|
(3) |
Single course student-months are calculated by
(i) multiplying the number of students in each single
course program by the number of months of that single course
program in the relevant period and then (ii) aggregating
the number of student-months for all of our single course
programs during the period. |
8
RISK FACTORS
An investment in our ADSs involves significant risks. You
should carefully consider all of the information in this
prospectus, including the risk factors described below, before
making an investment in our ADSs. The following risk factors
describe events, uncertainties or circumstances that create or
enhance risks to our business, financial condition and results
of operations or otherwise to the value of your investment in
our ADSs. Any of these risks could result in a decline in the
market price of our ADSs, in which case you may lose all or part
of your investment.
Risks Relating to Our Business
|
|
|
We have only recently achieved profitability, and we may
not be able to maintain or increase profitability in the
future.
|
Although we were profitable for the six months ended
September 30, 2007, we have not yet been profitable for any
full fiscal year up to and including the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007. It has taken us many years to develop a
revenue base strong enough to realize profitability. Although we
have experienced significant growth in our revenues in recent
years, we may face difficulties maintaining or increasing
profitability as we seek to continue to expand our client base,
sell more of our products and services to our existing clients
and develop new products and services. In addition, we expect
our profitability for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008
and future fiscal years to be negatively affected by a
share-based compensation charge in relation to our issuance of
options to certain employees in October 2007. We expect to incur
compensation expenses of RMB18.5 million
($2.5 million) over the vesting schedule of the options.
Twenty-five percent (25%) of the October 2007 options granted
vested on January 1, 2008, while the remaining seventy-five
(75%) vest ratably at the end of each month over the following
30-month period. Failure to maintain or increase our
profitability could result in a decline in the market price of
our ADSs, in which case you may lose all or part of your
investment in our ADSs.
|
|
|
We have been growing rapidly and plan to expand our
operations significantly over the next few years. If we fail to
address risks or meet new challenges associated with this rapid
expansion, we may not meet internal and external expectations of
our future performance.
|
We are experiencing rapid growth in our operations and
technology and services development, which has placed a
significant strain on our management, administrative,
operational and financial infrastructure. This rapid expansion
may have caused us to overlook or fail to properly address
latent problems. Rapid expansion also may have led to
inefficiencies in our administrative systems or business
operations that have not yet been discovered or addressed.
Furthermore, we anticipate expanding the scope of our operations
significantly in the coming years. Our future success will
depend in part upon the ability of our senior management to
manage this growth effectively. In particular, our management
may face the following challenges managing this growth:
|
|
|
|
|
controlling our costs and expenses and maintaining or increasing
our margins and profitability; |
|
|
|
retaining existing clients and expanding service offerings to
those clients; |
|
|
|
acquiring and retaining new clients, especially for our test
preparation business; |
|
|
|
retaining our key relationships with governmental agencies,
obtaining any governmental approvals required for new service
offerings and responding to changes in the regulatory and policy
environment; |
|
|
|
attracting, training and retaining qualified personnel; |
|
|
|
improving our operating, administrative and financial systems
and internal controls and maintaining close cooperation between
members of management and heads of individual departments; |
9
|
|
|
|
|
increasing the awareness of our brand name and protecting our
reputation; |
|
|
|
keeping up with evolving industry standards, technologies and
market developments; or |
|
|
|
integrating any acquired business into our business operations
and realizing the potential benefits of our acquisition. |
We rely on a handful of relatively senior managers for much of
our marketing and business development, which includes, among
other things, site visits with prospective clients followed by
the signing of non-binding memoranda of understanding or other
preliminary arrangements. Since the number of our senior
managers is still small, we may not have a sufficient number of
marketing and business development professionals with the
experience and talent to quickly and effectively follow up with
such clients and convert these memoranda of understanding and
preliminary arrangements into final agreements and
revenue-generating relationships. If we fail to successfully
address these and other challenges as we expand our operations,
we may not meet internal and external expectations of our future
performance, which could result in a decline in the market price
of our ADSs, in which case you may lose all or part of your
investment in our ADSs.
|
|
|
Our financial results are subject to fluctuations and
seasonality related to the revenue cycles for our products and
services, our relatively long and unpredictable sales cycle and
other factors beyond our control, any of which may decrease our
revenues in a particular period. As a result, it is difficult
for us to predict our results of operations and you should not
rely on our historical operating results as an indication of our
future financial performance.
|
Our results of operations have varied in the past from period to
period, and are likely to vary in the future, due to the fact
that our main sources of revenues, licensing fees from test
sponsors and licensing fees from educational institutions, are
seasonal. We have experienced seasonality and expect in the
future to continue to experience seasonality in net revenues and
accounts receivable related to our test delivery services, with
the quarter ending December 31 typically having the highest
net revenues from testing services and the quarter ending
March 31 typically having the lowest net revenues from
testing services. Under our contracts with test sponsors, we
typically have the right to receive payment approximately one
month after a test is delivered, and our clients typically pay
us within three to six months of delivery. We therefore may
experience substantial increases in our accounts receivable
balance at the end of the quarter ending December 31 of
each year. Also, revenues from our degree major and single
course programs may experience seasonal declines during the
quarter ending September 30 of each fiscal year, which
includes the summer holiday months of July and August, since we
do not recognize revenues in July and August for the last year
of each degree major course program and for most single course
programs. We also expect some seasonality in our accounts
receivable related to degree major programs, because we collect
from our clients typically around the months of October to
November, and a large portion of our clients settle payment with
us two to three months after that time.
In addition, our sales cycles are generally long and
unpredictable. A clients decision to purchase our products
and services often involves a lengthy evaluation process.
Throughout the sales cycle, we often spend considerable time
educating and providing information to prospective clients
regarding the use and benefits of our products and services.
Moreover, budget constraints and the need for multiple approvals
within large enterprises, governmental agencies and educational
institutions may also delay purchasing decisions. The inability
to obtain the required approval for a course taught using one of
our course programs or for procurement of our other products or
services may not be known until the negotiation process has
progressed for many months. As a result, the sales cycle for our
computer-based testing services and career-oriented educational
services may last a year or longer. Such a lengthy sales cycle,
and any future increases in our sales cycle, could lead to
higher sales and marketing expenses and adversely affect our
cash flow from operations. In addition, the lengthy sales cycle
has made, and may continue to make, our financial results prone
to fluctuations or decrease our revenues in a particular period.
If our revenues for a particular quarter are lower than we
expect, we may be unable to reduce our operating expenses for
that quarter by a corresponding amount, which could negatively
affect our operating
10
results for that quarter. As a result, you should not rely on
our quarter-to-quarter
comparisons of our operating results as indicators of likely
future performance. Our operating results may be below the
expectations of public market analysts and investors in one or
more future quarters. If that occurs, the market price of our
ADSs could decline and you could lose part or all of your
investment. Fluctuations of our quarterly financial results may
also lead to increased volatility in the market price of our
ADSs.
|
|
|
The Chinese market for computer-based testing services and
career-oriented educational services is still emerging and
evolving rapidly. If market acceptance of our products and
services declines or fails to grow, our revenue growth may slow
or we may experience a decrease in revenues.
|
As the Chinese market for computer-based testing services and
career-oriented educational services is still emerging, our
success will depend to a large extent on our ability to convince
our clients that our technologies and services are valuable and
that it is more cost-effective for them to utilize our services
than for them to develop similar services in-house. We must
address the following concerns with our clients as they decide
to implement computer-based testing and career-oriented
educational services and to use our technologies and services:
|
|
|
|
|
concern over the commitment of time, personnel and funding
necessary to implement our computer-based testing services and
career-oriented educational services; |
|
|
|
ability of clients to develop their own computer-based testing
services or career-oriented educational services; |
|
|
|
possible perceived security and academic integrity risks
associated with computer-based testing services and third-party
curriculum providers; |
|
|
|
reluctance of the academic community to adopt computer-based
learning materials and computer-based tests; and |
|
|
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reluctance of educational institutions to depend on third-party
providers of curricula and academic certifications. |
A decline in the demand for computer-based testing and education
services by test sponsors or educational institutions would
negatively affect demand for our computer-based testing services
and technologies, as well as our degree major and course
programs, which incorporate computer-based tests. Even if test
sponsors and educational institutions continue to show demand
for computer-based testing services and career-oriented
educational services, this demand may not grow as quickly as we
anticipate.
If demand for computer-based testing services or career-oriented
educational services does not grow to the extent we anticipate,
our revenue growth may slow or we may experience a decrease in
revenues.
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If we are not successful in achieving market acceptance
for our test preparation solutions, our revenues may grow more
slowly or decline.
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In order to increase our revenue sources, we have allocated, and
intend to continue to allocate, time, effort and capital to
expand our test preparation solutions offerings. For example,
our NTET Tutorial Platform accounted for 11.7% and 26.3% of our
net revenues in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 and
the six months ended September 30, 2007, respectively, and
we expect revenues from this and our other test preparation
solutions to grow further. However, the market for these
offerings is still relatively new for us and we cannot assure
you that we will succeed in adapting to client needs in this
market or effectively deal with risks associated with this
expansion. It may be difficult for us to accurately predict
demand for our test preparation solutions, the potential size of
the market or the sustainability of fees for our test
preparation solutions. Furthermore, as this market develops, the
Chinese government may enact unforeseen regulations and policies
that could limit our ability to provide or expand our test
preparation solutions,
11
such as prohibitions on foreign-invested entities engaging in
test preparation services. Additional risks which we face
expanding in this market include the following:
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we may underestimate the amount of capital, personnel and other
resources required to carry out our expansion plans, which may
affect the success of our expansion and/or negatively impact the
quality of our other product and service offerings; |
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if we are unsuccessful in this market, it may negatively affect
our reputation and the status of our brand in our other markets; |
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we face additional regulatory risks in relation to the ATA
Onlines online test preparation business due to
restrictions imposed by the Chinese government on Internet
content services. See Risks Relating to
Regulation of Our Business Substantial uncertainties
and restrictions exist with respect to the application and
implementation of Chinese laws and regulations relating to
Internet content distribution. If the Chinese government finds
that the structure for our online test preparation services and
other services we provide through the Internet do not comply
with Chinese laws and regulations, we could be subject to
penalties and may not be able to continue those
businesses; and |
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we may fail to develop sufficient payment collection, technical
support and other administrative capabilities necessary to
successfully develop and manage our test preparation solutions
on an increasingly large scale. |
The success of our test preparation solutions also depends on
our ability to gain and maintain licenses from test sponsors for
learning materials. Obtaining and maintaining these licenses
from test sponsors for which we also provide testing content
creation or delivery services will require us to convince them
that our test preparation solutions will not compromise the
integrity of the tests that we deliver for them.
A failure to achieve market acceptance for our test preparation
solutions may have an adverse impact on our revenues and results
of operations.
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Breaches or perceived breaches of our security measures
relating to test collection, scoring and storage or unauthorized
disclosure or misuse of personal data through breach of our
computer systems or otherwise could cause us to receive negative
publicity, and lose clients and expose us to protracted and
costly litigation.
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As part of our service offerings, we collect, process, transmit
and store highly confidential information, including personal
information and test questions, answers and scores. Maintaining
the security and confidentiality of the information we handle as
part of our testing services is essential to protecting the
integrity and accuracy of the test taking process and retaining
our client base. Any breach or perceived breach in our security
measures pertaining to the collection, processing, transmission
or storage of such information as a result of third-party
action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise could result in
liability claims and have a negative impact on our reputation.
Additionally, we could be subject to liability claims or
regulatory penalties for misuses of information collected from
clients or students or for the unauthorized disclosure or
unauthorized or inappropriate use of such information. Any such
negative publicity or liability claims could have a significant
negative impact on our future business, cause us to lose clients
and expose us to costly litigation.
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Any failure by us to obtain new business from our existing
clients or maintain our relationships with key Chinese
governmental agencies may decrease our market share and
revenues.
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The success of our business going forward will rely in large
part on our ability to continue to obtain business from our
existing clients and maintain our relationships with key Chinese
governmental agencies. For the fiscal year ended March 31,
2007 and the six months ended September 30, 2007, 46.9% and
20.6%, respectively, of our total net revenues were generated
from licensing and service fees from Chinese governmental
agencies and educational institutions controlled by the PRC
government. Our
12
contracts for computer-based testing services generally allow
for termination without cause on three months to one years
written notice. Furthermore, educational institutions offering
our career-oriented educational programs are under no
contractual obligation to enroll students in our programs. We
must therefore market our technologies and services to new and
existing clients not only to expand our operations, but also to
maintain our existing client base and revenues.
The willingness of Chinese test sponsors and educational
institutions to use our technologies and services is to some
extent a result of our longstanding relationships with the PRC
Ministries of Labor and Education, which significantly enhance
our name brand and reputation among our client base. At the same
time, maintaining a strong relationship with the Ministry of
Education is important for marketing our career-oriented
educational services, as each program requires approval by the
Ministry of Education before it may be introduced into schools
in China. If our relationships with these two ministries or
their local branches were to deteriorate, it could significantly
reduce our revenues and harm our brand and reputation.
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A limited number of our clients have accounted and are
expected to continue to account for a high percentage of our
revenues. The loss of or significant reduction in orders from
any of these clients could significantly reduce our revenues and
have a material adverse effect on our results of
operations.
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Our largest client in the six months ended September 30,
2007, the China Banking Association, accounted for 19.5% of our
net revenues for that period. In addition, Chengdu Shiguang Co.
Ltd., a distributor of our test preparation solutions software
products, accounted for 10.8% of our net revenues for the six
months ended September 30, 2007, while the PRC Ministry of
Labor accounted for 12.3% and 8.5% of our net revenues for the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 and the six months ended
September 30, 2007, respectively. Our top five clients for
the six months ended September 30, 2007, which included the
China Banking Association, the PRC Ministry of Labor and three
distributors of our test preparation solutions software
products, accounted for 52.8% of our net revenues for the six
months ended September 30, 2007. Due to our dependence on a
limited number of clients, any one of the following events,
among others, could cause material fluctuations or declines in
our revenues and have a material adverse effect on our results
of operations:
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a reduction, delay or cancellation of contracts or product or
service orders from one or more of our significant clients; |
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a decision by one or more of our significant clients to award
contracts or orders to one of our competitors; and |
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a decision by one or more of our major clients to significantly
reduce the price they are willing to pay for our services or
products. |
Any of these events could occur due to causes outside of our
control, such as macro-economic conditions, changes in a
clients management or the personnel with whom we interact,
changes in technology, the actions of our competitors, changes
in governmental regulations and policies and changes in a
clients budgeting or financial prospects.
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A significant portion of our revenues are dependent on
market acceptance of our
E-testing platform and
other computer-based testing technologies, and if we are unable
to anticipate and meet our clients technological needs and
challenges from new technologies and industry standards, our
products and services may lose market acceptance or become
obsolete, and our margins and results of operations may be
adversely affected.
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Our advanced technologies for the creation and delivery of
computer-based tests, including our
E-testing platform and
our performance-based testing technologies, are a key factor in
growing and maintaining our relationships with test sponsors,
educational institution clients and educational program content
providers. Our future success depends on our ability to upgrade
our systems, develop new technologies and anticipate and meet
the technical needs of our clients on a regular basis. The
emergence
13
in the market of new test creation and delivery technologies or
substitute products and services could reduce the
competitiveness or result in the obsolescence of our current
technologies and services. Moreover, if other companies develop
similar technologies offering functionality comparable to that
of our technologies, pricing pressure may increase and our
margins and results of operations may be adversely affected.
Additionally, industry standards such as standard interfaces and
data exchange protocols may be developed for testing
technologies, and if these industry standards are incompatible
with our technologies, demand for our technologies, products and
services may decline significantly. To the extent we are unable
to maintain our market leadership position in key testing
technologies or anticipate and respond to technological
developments and changes in industry standards in a timely and
cost-effective manner, our products and services may lose market
acceptance or become obsolete.
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We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from
course programs using materials licensed from Microsoft China
and Adobe, and the loss of the right to use these course
materials could materially harm our revenues and results of
operations.
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A substantial portion of our single course programs and the
individual courses that comprise our degree major course
programs use course materials licensed from IT vendors including
Microsoft China and Adobe. Moreover, our degree major and single
course programs are attractive to our educational institution
clients and their students largely because they offer students
the opportunity to obtain a professional certification, such as
a Microsoft Certified Professional or Delphi certification, at
the same time that they earn academic credit from their school.
We expect our revenues from these sources to continue to account
for a substantial portion of our revenues. Our contracts for
providing course programs and delivering certification exams in
China for Microsoft China and Adobe generally have a term of one
or two years and are automatically renewable for an additional
one or two years. However, our Microsoft China contract is
terminable at will without cause by either party with
90 days prior written notice, while our Adobe contract is
terminable upon breach or mutual agreement of the parties. We
cannot assure you that these IT vendors will renew or will not
terminate these contracts and licenses, as they may decide in
the future to work with other testing service providers, provide
the testing services themselves or license course materials to
another course program developer or to the schools directly. If
we were to lose the right to offer certification tests or course
programs for these IT vendors, our revenues and results of
operations could be materially harmed.
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We do not have any control over the business activities of
the independent distributors of our NTET Tutorial Platform
software after our sale of the software to them, and actions by
them could harm our reputation and negatively impact the image
of and demand for our NTET Tutorial Platform software and other
test preparation solutions.
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We offer our NTET Tutorial Platform software through independent
distributors. We sell all title and distribution rights to the
distributors upon delivery. We do not provide upgrades or any
additional post-contract services, which are the responsibility
of the distributors who sell our NTET Tutorial Platform. We do
not have any control over the business activities of the
independent distributors after our sale of the software to them.
If one or more of our distributors engages in activities that
violate applicable laws and regulations or that are otherwise
harmful to our business or our reputation in the market, it
could expose us to negative publicity and damage our brand
image. Moreover, if our distributors fail to provide adequate,
satisfactory and effective after-sales support, our brand image
may suffer, and our business and results of operations could be
materially adversely affected.
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If Microsoft exercises its contractual option to acquire
the source code of our Dynamic Simulation Technology, or DST,
Microsoft or a company to which Microsoft licenses or sells such
technology may be able to more effectively compete with
us.
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Under our Simulation Technology License Agreement with
Microsoft, Microsoft has the right to acquire for
$3.0 million a perpetual royalty-free license to the source
code of our DST, along with the right to freely sell, license or
sublicense the DST source code to third parties. The contract
does not
14
restrict which entities to which Microsoft may sell, license or
sublicense the DST source code. While Microsofts exercise
of this option would generate $3.0 million in revenue to us
upon exercise, it may materially adversely affect our future
revenues if Microsoft or any company to which Microsoft sells or
licenses the technology uses it to directly compete with us.
In addition, Microsoft has the right to obtain more limited
rights to the source code in the event ATA is in continuing
breach of any of its obligations regarding technical support and
correction of programming errors. Upon the occurrence of a
continuing breach, Microsoft would obtain the right to freely
install, make, use, reproduce, copy, modify, translate, edit and
otherwise create derivative works of the DST source code and to
sublicense any of the foregoing rights to third parties,
excluding certain of our competitors in the computer-based
testing services market.
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Technical errors or failures in relation to computer-based
tests delivered through our test delivery platform could result
in negative publicity, loss of clients, liability claims and
costly and disruptive litigation.
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Due to the complexity of the technologies we have developed and
use to create and deliver computer-based tests for our clients,
there is a risk that technical errors or failures may occur in
relation to these services. These may include errors, failures
or bugs in our self-developed software applications and test
security technologies, breakdowns or failures of our servers and
computer networks, and connectivity failures between our
networks. While we have not to date experienced major problems
due to errors, breakdowns, failures, bugs or defects, we cannot
assure you that we will not experience such problems in the
future. If such a problem were to occur, it could disrupt or
compromise the integrity of the test taking process or of test
content and results, which could lead to negative publicity and
loss of clients and may subject us to liability claims. Although
we have established a formal crisis management system to respond
to technical problems, it has never been tested in a real crisis
situation. Any litigation or negative publicity resulting from
an error or failure, with or without merit, could result in
substantial costs and divert managements attention and
resources from our business and operations.
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Reductions in public funding available to our clients that
are governmental agencies could adversely impact demand by these
agencies and institutions for our products and services.
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We derived 46.9% and 20.6% of our total net revenues for the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 and the six months ended
September 30, 2007, respectively, from licensing and
services fees from Chinese governmental agencies and educational
institutions controlled by the Chinese government. Demand and
ability to pay for our products and services by these agencies
and institutions are affected by government budgetary cycles,
funding availability and government policies. Funding
reductions, reallocations or delays could adversely impact
demand for our products and services by our clients or reduce
the fees these clients are willing to pay for our products and
services.
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If we fail to maintain a strong brand identity, our
business may not grow and our financial results may be adversely
impacted.
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We believe that maintaining and enhancing the value of the
ATA brand is important to attracting clients. Our
success in maintaining brand awareness will depend on our
ability to consistently provide high quality, value-adding,
user-friendly and secure products and services. As we develop
our test preparation solutions, we plan to accelerate our
efforts to establish a wider recognition of the ATA
brand to attract students from all over China and around the
world to our test preparation solutions. To establish a wider
recognition of our ATA brand among students and test
takers, we may need to spend significant resources on
advertising and distribution channels. As we have limited
experience with advertising and other activities required to
establish a widely recognized brand, we cannot assure you that
we will effectively allocate our resources for these activities
or succeed in maintaining and broadening our brand recognition
and appeal. If we fail to maintain a strong brand identity, our
business may not grow and our financial results may be adversely
impacted.
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Actions by our authorized test centers could lead to
damage to our brand and reputation, which could cause us to
incur substantial costs and strain our relationships with our
clients.
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As of September 30, 2007, we had contractual relationships
with 1,810 authorized test centers. We do not own these centers
and their employees are not our employees. Under our contracts
with these test centers, we require them to provide sufficient
facilities to properly administer computer-based tests and to
follow prescribed guidelines for facility maintenance and test
administration. We also conduct regular reviews of their
facilities and operations and provide consulting services on
test administration. However, our contractual arrangements with
the test centers provide us with only limited ability to oversee
their activities, and most test centers engage in other
activities, such as serving as classrooms, when not
administering tests. If a test center were to engage in
unauthorized or unlawful conduct, whether related to
administering computer-based tests or otherwise, our clients,
prospective clients and the general public may associate this
conduct with our brand, and negative publicity associated with
this conduct could harm our reputation and lessen overall demand
for computer-based testing services. Furthermore, our business
may also be adversely affected if our authorized test centers do
not maintain their premises, administer our computer-based tests
in a manner consistent with our standards and requirements, or
hire qualified personnel and train them properly. In addition, a
liability claim against an ATA authorized test center or any
center personnel may result in unfavorable publicity for us, our
products and services and our other test centers, and could
damage our brand and reputation, whether or not the claim is
successful. While we may terminate our contracts and
relationships with our authorized test centers if any of these
events were to occur, we may not be able to identify problems or
take action quickly enough to prevent harm to our reputation.
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We may face increasing competition from international and
Chinese competitors, and may face increasing competition from
domestic rivals. If we fail to successfully compete, our
revenues and market share may decrease, and our results of
operations may be adversely affected.
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We face a number of international competitors in the Chinese and
international markets for computer-based testing services,
career-oriented educational services and test preparation
solutions. Some of these competitors have longer operating
histories, better recognized brands, larger technical staffs,
stronger relationships with our existing IT industry clients
and/or greater financial, technical and marketing resources than
we possess. There are also a number of smaller Chinese firms
that compete with us in our markets. In addition, because the
markets for the services we offer are relatively new and growing
rapidly, we anticipate that new entrants, both domestic and
international, will try to gain market share from us, some of
which may have closer relationships with Chinese educational
institutions or IT vendors. These new entrants may include
our current clients, such as Chinese governmental agencies and
educational institutions, as well as IT vendors that provide us
with course material content. In the future, competitors may
introduce new technologies, products and services that have
better performance, offer lower prices and gain broader
acceptance than our technologies, products and services. Such
new products may reduce the overall market for our products and
services.
In the computer-based testing services market, Prometric and
Pearson VUE are our main competitors. We compete with these and
other computer-based testing services providers primarily on the
basis of technology, price, management experience and
established infrastructure. In the future, as more companies
enter this market, we believe pricing may become increasingly
competitive as well. In relation to our career-oriented
educational services, we face competition from international
companies, such as Aptech Limited and NIIT Limited. Aptech
Limited operates in China primarily through its joint venture
with BeiDa Jade Bird. Although these two companies offer
IT-related courses to post-secondary educational institutions in
China, based on our market experience and client communications
we believe they do not directly compete with our products and
services. For example, these two companies design their own
course content and exams and provide passing students with their
own proprietary certifications, rather than offering course
content and certifications designed by well-known IT vendors, as
we do. Traditional Chinese test preparation material providers,
such as publishing companies, indirectly compete with our test
preparation solutions. Increased competition could cause us to
lose clients or make it
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necessary for us to reduce our prices in order to retain our
clients, which may negatively affect our revenues and results of
operations.
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We depend on our key personnel and our business may be
severely disrupted if we lose their services and are unable to
replace them.
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Our future success is dependent upon the continued services of
our key executives, as we rely on their industry experience and
expertise in our business operations. In particular, we rely
heavily on our
co-founders Kevin
Xiaofeng Ma, our chairman and chief executive officer, and
Walter Lin Wang, our president, for their business vision,
management skills, technical expertise, experience in the
testing, IT and education industries and working relationships
with many of our clients, shareholders and other participants in
the testing, IT and education industries. If either Mr. Ma
or Mr. Wang were unable or unwilling to continue in their
present positions, or if they joined a competitor or formed a
competing company in violation of their employment agreements,
we may not be able to replace them easily and our business may
be severely disrupted. We do not maintain key-man life insurance
for Mr. Ma or Mr. Wang or for any of our other
employees.
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Because competition for highly skilled employees is
intense, we may not be able to attract and retain the highly
skilled employees we need to support our planned growth.
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Due to intense market competition for highly skilled workers, we
have faced difficulties locating experienced and skilled
personnel in certain areas, such as administration, marketing,
product development, sales, finance and accounting. In
particular, we have had difficulty finding personnel with
experience in the relatively new computer-based testing services
market. We cannot assure you that we will be able to attract or
retain the key personnel that we will need to achieve our
business objectives. Even if we can find qualified candidates,
they may be subject to non-competition agreements with their
prior employers that prevent us from hiring them. In addition,
we cannot assure you that we will be able to retain our current
skilled personnel. According to our contracts with our
employees, all of our employees are prohibited from engaging in
any activities that compete with our business during the period
of their employment and for two years after termination of their
employment with us. Furthermore, all employees are prohibited,
for a period of two years following termination, from soliciting
other employees to leave us and, for a period of five years
following termination, from soliciting our existing clients.
However, we may have difficulty enforcing these non-competition
and non-solicitation provisions in China because the Chinese
legal system, especially with respect to the enforcement of such
provisions, is still developing.
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Many of our contracts with governmental agencies and
public educational institutions take the form of framework
agreements and offer little contractual or legal protections,
and it may be impractical for us to pursue or obtain legal
remedies against these clients.
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Many governmental agencies and other public sector entities in
China require the use of simple framework agreements for the
procurement of products and services from us that lack many of
the detailed aspects of our business arrangement. For example,
the terms of service may lack the clarity we would normally have
in our contracts with commercial enterprises, or contract terms
to protect our intellectual property may not be as clear and
detailed as we would normally have in our contracts with
commercial enterprises. Moreover, it may not be feasible or
practicable under current Chinese law and practice for us to
take legal action against our government and public sector
clients to enforce our contractual rights. As a result, we may
lack the same contractual or legal protections, or ability to
enforce such protections, that we would normally have under the
contracts we typically enter into with our other clients.
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Unauthorized use of our intellectual property by third
parties, including infringement of our ATA brand,
and the expenses incurred in protecting our intellectual
property rights, may adversely affect our business.
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Our copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and other intellectual
property are important to our success. In particular, we believe
that our ATA brand name represents a valuable asset
as we have sought to gain a reputation for high quality and
secure testing services and advanced testing technologies within
our markets. Unauthorized use of any of our intellectual
property may adversely affect our business and reputation. We
rely on trademark and copyright law, trade secret protection and
confidentiality agreements with our employees, clients, business
partners and others to protect our intellectual property rights.
Nevertheless, it may be possible for third parties to obtain and
use our intellectual property without authorization. The
unauthorized use of intellectual property is common and
widespread in China and enforcement of intellectual property
rights by Chinese regulatory agencies is inconsistent. Moreover,
litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our
intellectual property rights. Future litigation could result in
substantial costs and diversion of our managements
attention and resources, and could disrupt our business, as well
as have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and
results of operations. Given the relative unpredictability of
Chinas legal system and potential difficulties enforcing a
court judgment in China, there is no guarantee that we would be
able to halt the unauthorized use of our intellectual property
through litigation.
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We may be subject to intellectual property infringement
claims, which may force us to incur substantial legal expenses
and, if determined adversely against us, may materially disrupt
our business.
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We cannot assure you that our software and other technologies do
not or will not infringe upon patents, valid copyrights or other
intellectual property rights held by third parties. We may
become subject to legal proceedings and claims from time to time
relating to the intellectual property of others in the ordinary
course of our business. If we are found to have violated the
intellectual property rights of others, we may be enjoined from
using such intellectual property, and we may incur licensing
fees or be forced to develop alternatives. In addition, we may
incur substantial expenses, and may be forced to divert
management and other resources from our business operations, to
defend against these third-party infringement claims, regardless
of their merit. Successful infringement or licensing claims
against us may result in substantial monetary liabilities or may
materially disrupt the conduct of our business by restricting or
prohibiting our use of the intellectual property in question.
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We may be subject to liability claims for any inaccurate
or inappropriate content in our course programs, which could
cause us to incur legal costs and damage our reputation.
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For some IT vendors we license the content for our course
programs from the IT vendor, while for others we develop the
content ourselves in cooperation with IT vendors and other
subject-matter experts. We generally do not require that these
content development partners indemnify or otherwise compensate
us for inaccurate or inappropriate materials included in the
course programs. Furthermore, our agreements for delivery of our
course programs do not exclude or limit our liability for
inaccurate or inappropriate course content. Therefore, we may
face civil, administrative or criminal liability if an
individual or corporate, governmental or other entity believes
that the content of any of our course programs violates any
laws, regulations or governmental policies or infringes upon its
legal rights. Even if such a claim were not successful,
defending such a claim may cause us to incur substantial costs.
Moreover, any accusation of inaccurate or inappropriate conduct
could lead to significant negative publicity, which could harm
our reputation and future business prospects.
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Because there is limited business insurance coverage in
China, any business disruption or litigation we experience might
result in our incurring substantial costs and diverting
significant resources to handle such disruption or
litigation.
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The insurance industry in China is not fully developed.
Insurance companies in China offer limited business insurance
products. While business disruption insurance may be available
to a limited
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extent in China, we have determined that the risks of disruption
and the difficulties and costs associated with acquiring such
insurance render it commercially impractical for us to have such
insurance. As a result, we do not have any business liability,
disruption or litigation insurance coverage for our operations
in China. Any business disruption or litigation might result in
our incurring substantial costs and the diversion of resources.
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We may face difficulties implementing our acquisition
strategy, including identifying suitable opportunities and
integrating acquired businesses and assets with our existing
operations, which could interrupt our business operations or
adversely affect our results of operations.
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As part of our business strategy, we may seek to broaden our
service offerings, obtain additional clients and strengthen our
service quality by acquiring other companies or businesses.
However, our ability to implement our acquisition strategy will
depend on a number of factors, including the availability of
suitable acquisition candidates at an acceptable cost or at all,
our ability to compete effectively to attract and reach
agreement with acquisition candidates or joint venture partners
on commercially reasonable terms, and the availability of
financing to complete acquisitions or joint ventures as well as
our ability to obtain any required government approvals or
licenses. In addition, we cannot assure you that any particular
acquisition or joint venture transaction will produce the
intended benefits or synergies. For example, we may not be
successful in integrating acquisitions with our existing
operations and personnel. Moreover, the acquisitions we pursue
may require us to expend significant management and other
resources, which may result in interruption to our business
operations.
There are other risks associated with acquisitions, including:
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unforeseen or hidden liabilities, including exposure to legal
proceedings, associated with newly acquired companies; |
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failure to generate sufficient revenues to offset the costs and
expenses of acquisitions; |
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integration of the management of the acquired business into our
own; |
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potential impairment losses or amortization expenses relating to
goodwill and intangible assets arising from any of such
acquisitions, which may materially reduce our net income or
result in a net loss; |
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potential conflicts with our existing employees as a result of
our integration of newly acquired companies; and |
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possible contravention of Chinese regulations applicable to such
acquisitions. |
Furthermore, raising capital to finance acquisitions could cause
earnings or ownership dilution to your shareholding interests,
which in turn could result in losses to you. Any one or a
combination of the above risks could interrupt our business
operations and adversely affect our results of operations.
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We may need additional capital and any failure by us to
raise additional capital on terms favorable to us, or at all,
could limit our ability to grow our business and develop or
enhance our product and service offerings to respond to market
demand or competitive challenges.
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Capital requirements are difficult to plan in our rapidly
changing industry. Currently, we expect that we will need
capital to fund:
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developing and expanding our test preparation solutions business; |
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marketing costs related to enhancing our ATA brand; |
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licensing course content from IT vendors in order to expand our
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incremental costs associated with being a public company. |
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We believe that our current cash, expected future cash flows
from operations, particularly from testing services and test
preparation solutions, will be sufficient to meet our
anticipated working capital and capital expenditures for the
next 12 months and the foreseeable future beyond that
point. We may, however, require additional cash resources due to
changed business conditions or other future developments,
including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to
pursue. If our sources of liquidity are insufficient to satisfy
our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or
debt securities or obtain a credit facility. The sale of
additional equity securities could result in dilution to our
shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in
increased debt service obligations and could require us to agree
to operating and financing covenants that would restrict our
operations. Our ability to obtain additional capital on
acceptable terms is subject to a variety of uncertainties,
including:
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investors perception of, and demand for, securities of
computer-based testing and education companies; |
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conditions of the U.S. and other capital markets in which we may
seek to raise funds; |
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our future results of operations and financial condition; |
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Chinese government regulation of foreign investment in China; |
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economic, political and other conditions in China; and |
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Chinese government policies relating to the borrowing and
remittance outside China of foreign currency. |
We cannot assure you that financing will be available in amounts
or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Any failure by us to
raise additional funds on terms favorable to us, or at all,
could limit our ability to grow our business and develop or
enhance our product and service offerings to respond to market
demand or competitive challenges.
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Our independent registered public accounting firm, in the
course of auditing our consolidated financial statements, noted
material weaknesses in our internal control over financial
reporting. If we fail to establish an effective system of
internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to
accurately and timely report our financial results or detect or
prevent fraud. In addition, investor confidence in us and the
market price of our ADSs may be adversely impacted if we find
that, or our independent registered public accounting firm
reports that, our internal control over financial reporting is
ineffective in accordance with the requirements of
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
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We will be subject to reporting obligations under the
U.S. securities laws. The Securities and Exchange
Commission, or the SEC, as required by Section 404 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002, or the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act,
adopted rules requiring every public company to include a
management report on such companys internal control over
financial reporting in its annual report, which contains
managements assessment of the effectiveness of the
companys internal control over financial reporting. In
addition, an independent registered public accounting firm must
report on our internal control over financial reporting. These
requirements will first apply to our annual report on
Form 20-F for the
fiscal year ending on March 31, 2009. Our management may
conclude that our internal control over our financial reporting
is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes
that our internal control over financial reporting is effective,
our independent registered public accounting firm may report
that our internal control over financial reporting is not
effective.
Our reporting obligations as a public company will place a
significant strain on our management, operational and financial
resources and systems for the foreseeable future. Prior to this
offering, we have been a private company with limited accounting
and other resources with which to adequately address our
internal controls and procedures. In connection with the audit
of our prior consolidated financial statements (not included in
this prospectus), our independent registered public accounting
firm informed us that we lacked sufficient personnel with the
appropriate level of accounting knowledge, experience and
training in the application of U.S. GAAP, which deficiency
amounted to a material weakness as defined
20
under the standards established by the Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board. In response to this material weakness and other
internal control deficiencies previously reported to us by our
independent registered public accounting firm we undertook
certain remedial steps to improve our internal controls. See
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations Internal
Controls Over Financial Reporting.
Despite these efforts, in connection with the audit of our
consolidated financial statements for the years ended
March 31, 2006 and 2007, our independent registered public
accounting firm reported to us that we had two material
weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting.
One of the material weaknesses communicated to us was our
inability to provide objectively verifiable evidence to apply
cash collections against our accounts receivable balance
following the implementation of a new operational system in
December 2006. These cash collections were initially incorrectly
recorded as deferred revenue, resulting in an audit adjustment
to remove the overstatement of both accounts receivable and
deferred revenue by RMB6.4 million as of March 31,
2007. The second material weakness communicated to us was our
continuing lack of sufficient personnel with an appropriate
level of accounting knowledge, experience and training in the
application of U.S. GAAP. As a result of this material
weakness, the following audit adjustments to our consolidated
financial statements for the years ended March 31, 2006 and
2007 were required by our independent registered public
accounting firm to be recorded by us: (1) adjustments to
recognize additional revenue of RMB14.3 million and
RMB2.2 million for the years ended March 31, 2006 and
2007, respectively, due to our initial inappropriate application
of our revenue recognition policy; (2) an adjustment to
charge to expense RMB9.2 million for the year ended
March 31, 2007 due to the initial incorrect deferral of
certain costs relating to our planned initial public offering
that do not qualify for deferral; (3) adjustments to charge
to expense RMB4.1 million and RMB2.5 million for the
years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007, respectively, due to
the initial improper recognition of share-based compensation;
(4) adjustments to increase the income tax benefit by
RMB0.5 million and RMB1.8 million for the years ended
March 31, 2006 and 2007, respectively, due to the improper
amount of valuation allowance initially recorded on deferred
income tax assets; (5) an adjustment of
RMB13.9 million to increase the net loss applicable to
common shareholders for the year ended March 31, 2006 due
to an error in the initial recording of the accretion of
redeemable convertible preferred shares to redemption value; and
(6) an adjustment to increase net loss for the year ended
March 31, 2006 by RMB22.4 million due to an error in the
initial recording of the extension of common share warrant.
Certain of these errors also impacted, and required us to make
adjustments to, our consolidated financial statements for
periods prior to our fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.
Our independent registered public accounting firm also
communicated to us other deficiencies in our internal control
over financial reporting that required improvement. These
deficiencies included (1) insufficient training of our
newly adopted accounting system, resulting in various accounting
errors; (2) lack of physical control over inventory items
resulting from non-sequential numbering of goods delivery and
receipt; (3) lack of performance review for obsolete
inventory information; (4) insufficient management review
and authorization of employee bonuses; (5) lack of
accountability of recorded transactions resulting from
insufficient documentation for client acceptance of goods and
services received; (6) lack of sufficient reconciliation of
bank account information; (7) lack of management review and
authorization of classification and recording of certain
expenses; (8) insufficient performance review for
information on collectibility of accounts receivable; and
(9) insufficient management review and authorization of
applicability of value-added tax and business tax.
If we fail to timely establish and maintain internal controls,
we may not be able to conclude that we have effective internal
control over financial reporting. Moreover, effective internal
control over financial reporting are necessary for us to produce
reliable financial reports and are important to help prevent
fraud. As a result, our failure to achieve and maintain
effective internal controls over financial reporting could
result in the loss of investor confidence in the reliability of
our financial statements, which in turn could harm our business
and negatively impact the trading price of our ADSs.
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Compliance with rules and requirements applicable to
public companies may cause us to incur increased costs, and any
failure by us to comply with such rules and requirements could
negatively affect investor confidence in us and cause the market
price of our ADSs to decline.
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As a public company, we will incur significant legal, accounting
and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company.
In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules
subsequently implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq, have required
changes in corporate governance practices of public companies.
We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal,
accounting and financial compliance costs and to make certain
corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. Complying
with these rules and requirements may be especially difficult
and costly for us because we may have difficulty locating
sufficient personnel in China with experience and expertise
relating to U.S. GAAP and U.S. public-company
reporting requirements, and such personnel may command high
salaries relative to what similarly experienced personnel would
command in the United States. If we cannot employ sufficient
personnel to ensure compliance with these rules and regulations,
we may need to rely more on outside legal, accounting and
financial experts, which may be very costly. In addition, we
will incur additional costs associated with our public company
reporting requirements. We cannot predict or estimate the amount
of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.
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We may become a passive foreign investment company, or
PFIC, which could result in adverse U.S. tax consequences
to U.S. investors.
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Depending upon the value of our shares and ADSs and the nature
of our assets and income over time, we could be classified as a
PFIC by the United States Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, for
U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on assumptions as
to our projections of the value of our outstanding shares during
the taxable year, which runs from January to December, and our
use of the proceeds of the initial public offering of our ADSs
or shares and of the other cash that we will hold and generate
in the ordinary course of our business throughout taxable year
2008, we do not expect to be a PFIC for the taxable year 2008.
However, we cannot assure you that we will not be a PFIC for the
taxable year 2008 and/or later taxable years, as PFIC status is
tested each year and depends on our assets and income in such
year. Our PFIC status for the current taxable year 2008 will not
be determinable until the close of the taxable year ending
December 31, 2008.
We will be classified as a PFIC in any taxable year if either:
(1) the average percentage value of our gross assets during
the taxable year that produce passive income or are held for the
production of passive income is at least 50% of the value of our
total gross assets or (2) 7% or more of our gross income
for the taxable year is passive income. In particular, in
determining the average percentage value of our gross assets,
the aggregate value of our assets will generally be deemed to be
equal to our market capitalization (determined by the sum of the
aggregate value of our outstanding equity) plus our liabilities.
Additionally, our goodwill (determined by the sum of our market
capitalization plus liabilities, less the value of known assets)
should be treated as a non-passive asset. Therefore, a drop in
the market price of our ADSs and associated decrease in the
value of our goodwill would cause a reduction in the value of
our non-passive assets for purposes of the asset test.
Accordingly, we would likely become a PFIC if our market
capitalization were to decrease significantly while we hold
substantial cash or cash equivalents.
If we were classified as a PFIC in any taxable year in which you
hold our ADSs or shares and you are a U.S. holder, you
would generally be taxed at higher ordinary income rates, rather
than lower capital gain rates, if you dispose of ADSs or shares
for a gain in a later year, even if we are not a PFIC in that
year. In addition, a portion of the tax imposed on your gain
would be increased by an interest charge. Moreover, if we were
classified as a PFIC in any taxable year, you would not be able
to benefit from any preferential tax rate with respect to any
dividend distribution that you may receive from us in that year
or in the following year. Finally, you would also be subject to
special U.S. tax reporting requirements. For more information on
the United States federal income tax consequences to you that
would result from our classification as a PFIC, please see
Taxation United States Federal Income
Taxation U.S. Holders Status as a
PFIC.
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Risks Relating to Regulation of Our Business
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Changes to Chinese government regulation of, or policies
relating to, tuition fees may have a material and adverse effect
on our business and results of operations.
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During the fiscal years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 and
the six months ended September 30, 2007, 50.9%, 50.4% and
27.4%, respectively, of our total net revenues came from license
fees charged to vocational schools and other educational
institutions in China for our career-oriented test-based
educational services. We receive license fees for our
educational services on a per-student basis. If the tuition fees
chargeable by our educational institution clients were to
decline, we may have difficulty maintaining or raising the
per-student fees we charge for our educational services. As
tuition fees are heavily regulated in China, any change in
policy lowering or eliminating tuition fees chargeable by
vocational schools or other educational institutions may have a
negative impact on our pricing power and revenues generated from
the license of our educational services. The Chinese government
has tightened controls on tuition and other fees collected by
certain types of educational institutions in China. While this
has not had a noticeable impact on tuition fees chargeable for
courses taught using our educational services, in the future
there may be changes to Chinese policies and regulations
regarding tuition fees that will have a negative impact on our
business and results of operations.
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Changes to preferential policies adopted by the Chinese
government related to vocational education may negatively affect
our business and results of operations.
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The Chinese government has adopted preferential policies for the
development of vocational schools in China, including The
Decision to Enhance the Promotion of the Reform and Development
of Vocational Education and The Decision to Enhance
the Development of Vocational Education published by the
State Council in September 2002 and October 2005, respectively.
These decisions require all levels of government in China to
intensify their support for vocational education and to
gradually increase the financial resources that local and
provincial governments allocate to vocational education. We
believe that these governmental policies have encouraged clients
to purchase our services and increased the funding available for
purchasing our course programs. If these preferential policies
were to be reduced or eliminated, it may negatively affect our
business and results of operations.
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Substantial uncertainties and restrictions exist with
respect to the application and implementation of Chinese laws
and regulations relating to Internet content distribution. If
the Chinese government finds that the structure for our online
test preparation services and other services we provide through
the Internet do not comply with Chinese laws and regulations, we
could be subject to penalties and may not be able to continue
those businesses.
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The Chinese government regulates Internet access, the
distribution of online information, the conduct of online
commerce and the provision of online services through strict
business licensing requirements and other government
regulations. These laws and regulations also include limitations
on foreign ownership of Chinese companies that provide Internet
content. Specifically, foreign investors are not allowed to own
more than a 50% equity interest in any Chinese company engaging
in Internet content provision.
Because we are a Cayman Islands company, we and our Chinese
subsidiaries and their branch companies in China are treated as
foreign or foreign-invested enterprises under Chinese laws and
regulations. To comply with Chinese laws and regulations, we
conduct our online businesses in China through a series of
contractual arrangements entered into among us, ATA Learning and
ATA Online, which is a domestic Chinese company incorporated in
the PRC and owned by Kevin Xiaofeng Ma, our co-founder, chairman
and chief executive officer and Walter Lin Wang, our co-founder,
director and president. Our contractual arrangements with ATA
Online include a technical support agreement and a strategic
consulting service agreement. These contractual arrangements
also include an equity pledge agreement entered into with each
of the shareholders of ATA Online and a call option and
cooperation agreement entered into with ATA Online and its
shareholders. Under recently issued PRC law, a pledge of
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equity interests can only be valid after such pledge is
registered at the relevant agency. However, we are not aware
that any application for registration of an equity pledge has
been processed by the local administration for industry and
commerce in Beijing due to the lack of registration procedures,
and we have therefore not yet registered our equity pledge over
ATA Onlines equity. ATA Online intends to register the
equity pledge once the local registration authority implements
registration procedures.
ATA Online holds a Telecommunications and Information Services
Operating License, or ICP license, issued by the Beijing
Telecommunications Administration Bureau, a local branch of the
Ministry of Information Industry, or MII, which allows ATA
Online to provide Internet content distribution services. This
license is essential to the operation of our online test
preparation services business which accounted for 2.1% of our
total net revenues for the six months ended September 30,
2007.
The relevant Chinese regulatory authorities have broad
discretion in determining whether a particular contractual
structure is in violation of Chinese law. On July 26, 2006,
MII publicly released the Notice on Strengthening the
Administration of Foreign Investment in Operating Value-added
Telecom Business, dated July 13, 2006, or the MII Notice,
which reiterates certain provisions under the 2002
Administrative Rules on Foreign-Invested Telecommunications
Enterprises prohibiting, among other things, the renting,
transferring or sale of a telecommunications license to foreign
investors in any form. There is currently no official
interpretation or implementation practice under the MII Notice.
It remains uncertain how the MII Notice will be enforced and
whether or to what extent the MII Notice may affect the legality
of the corporate and contractual structures adopted by
foreign-invested Internet companies that operate in China, such
as ours. We have made inquiries with officials at MII but have
not yet been able to obtain a definitive answer regarding
implementation of the MII Notice and any implications on the
legality of our corporate and contractual structures. If our
ATA Online corporate and contractual structure is deemed by
MII to be illegal, either in whole or in part, we may have to
modify such structure to comply with regulatory requirements.
However, we cannot assure you that we can achieve this without
material disruption to our business. Further, if our ATA Online
corporate and contractual structure is found to be in violation
of any existing or future Chinese laws or regulations, the
relevant regulatory authorities would have broad discretion in
dealing with such violations, including:
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revoking our business and operating licenses; |
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levying fines on us; |
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confiscating any of our income that they deem to be obtained
through illegal operations; |
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shutting down a portion or all of our servers or blocking a
portion or all of our web site; |
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discontinuing or restricting our operations in China; |
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imposing conditions or requirements with which we may not be
able to comply; |
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requiring us to restructure our corporate and contractual
structure; |
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restricting or prohibiting our use of the proceeds from this
offering to finance ATA Onlines business and
operations; and |
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taking other regulatory or enforcement actions that could be
harmful to our business. |
Realization of any of these events could materially and
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results
of operations.
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Our contractual arrangements with ATA Online may be
subject to scrutiny by the Chinese tax authorities and create a
potential double layer of taxation for our revenue-generating
services conducted by ATA Online.
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We could face material and adverse tax consequences if the
Chinese tax authorities determine that our contractual
arrangements with ATA Online were not priced at arms
length for purposes of determining tax liability. If the Chinese
tax authorities determine that these contracts were not entered
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into on an arms-length basis, they may adjust our income
and expenses for Chinese tax purposes in the form of a transfer
pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could result
in a reduction, for Chinese tax purposes, of deductions recorded
by ATA Online, which could adversely affect us by increasing the
tax liabilities of ATA Online. This increased tax liability
could further result in late payment fees and other penalties to
ATA Online for underpaid taxes. Any payments we make under these
arrangements or adjustments in payments under these arrangements
that we may decide to make in the future will be subject to the
same risk.
To date, no specific prices for the services to be performed by
ATA Testing under the contractual arrangements have been set, no
such services have been performed, and no payments have been
invoiced or made under any of the contracts between ATA Testing
and ATA Online. Prices for such services will be set
prospectively and therefore we do not currently have a basis to
believe that any of the payments to be made under the contracts
will or will not be considered arms length for purposes of
determining tax liability. Prior to setting prices and terms
under the contracts, we intend to engage a third party to review
any proposed prices and terms to determine whether they would
qualify as arms-length.
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Our contractual arrangements with ATA Online and its
shareholders do not provide us with ownership interest in ATA
Online. If ATA Online or its shareholders fail to perform their
respective obligations under these contractual arrangements, we
may have to legally enforce such arrangements and our business,
financial condition and results of operations may be materially
and adversely affected if these arrangements cannot be
enforced.
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We rely on contractual arrangements with ATA Online and its
shareholders for operating, and for receiving the economic
benefits from, our online test preparation services. However,
these contractual arrangements do not provide us with ownership
interest in ATA Online.
These contractual arrangements are governed by Chinese or Hong
Kong law and provide for the resolution of disputes through
arbitration in the PRC. Accordingly, these contracts would be
interpreted in accordance with Chinese or Hong Kong law and any
disputes would be resolved in accordance with Chinese or Hong
Kong legal procedures. If ATA Online or its shareholders fail to
perform their respective obligations under these contractual
arrangements, we may have to (i) incur substantial costs
and resources to enforce such arrangements, and (ii) rely
on legal remedies under Chinese or Hong Kong law, including
seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming
damages, which we cannot be sure would be effective. For
example, if Kevin Xiaofeng Ma were to terminate his employment
with us, he would be obligated pursuant to these contractual
arrangements to transfer his share ownership in ATA Online to us
or our designee. If he were to refuse to effect such a transfer,
or if he were otherwise to act in bad faith toward us, then we
may have to take legal action to compel him to fulfill his
contractual obligations. However, the legal environment in the
PRC is not as developed as in the United States and
uncertainties in the Chinese legal system could limit our
ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. In the event
that we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements,
our business, financial condition and results of operations
could be materially and adversely affected.
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The shareholders of ATA Online may have potential
conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and
adversely affect our business and financial condition.
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The shareholders of ATA Online, Kevin Xiaofeng Ma and Walter Lin
Wang, are also beneficial holders of our common shares. They are
also directors of both ATA Online and our company. Conflicts of
interests between their dual roles as shareholders and directors
of both ATA Online and our company may arise. We cannot assure
you that when conflicts of interest arise, any or all of these
individuals will act in the best interests of our company or
that conflicts of interests will be resolved in our favor. In
addition, these individuals may breach or cause ATA Online to
breach or refuse to renew the existing contractual arrangements
that allow us to receive economic benefits from ATA Online.
Currently, we do not have existing arrangements to address
potential conflicts of interest between these individuals and
our company. We rely on these individuals to abide by the laws
of the Cayman Islands and China, both of which provide that
directors owe a fiduciary duty to the company, which requires
them to act in good faith and in the
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best interests of the company and not to use their positions for
personal gain. If we cannot resolve any conflicts of interest or
disputes between us and the shareholders of ATA Online, we would
have to rely on legal proceedings, which could result in
disruption of our business and substantial uncertainty as to the
outcome of any such legal proceedings.
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We may lose the ability to use and enjoy assets held by
ATA Online that are important to the operation of our business
if ATA Online goes bankrupt or becomes subject to a dissolution
or liquidation proceeding.
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To comply with PRC laws and regulations relating to foreign
ownership restrictions in the Internet content distribution
businesses, we currently conduct our operations in China through
contractual arrangements with ATA Online. As part of these
arrangements, ATA Online holds certain of the assets that are
important to the operation of our online test preparation
business. If ATA Online goes bankrupt and all or part of its
assets become subject to liens or rights of third-party
creditors, we may be unable to continue some or all of our
online test preparation business operations, which could
materially and adversely affect our business, financial
condition and results of operations. If ATA Online undergoes a
voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, its
shareholders or unrelated third-party creditors may claim rights
to some or all of these assets, thereby hindering our ability to
operate our online test preparation business, which could
materially and adversely affect our business, financial
condition and result of operations.
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If the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or CSRC, or
another PRC regulatory agency determines that CSRC approval is
required in connection with this offering, this offering may be
delayed or cancelled, or we may become subject to
penalties.
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On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including
the CSRC, promulgated the Provisions Regarding Mergers and
Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or
the M&A Rule, which became effective on September 8,
2006. The M&A Rule, among other things, requires that an
offshore company controlled by PRC companies or individuals that
has acquired a PRC domestic company for the purpose of listing
the PRC domestic companys equity interest on an overseas
stock exchange must obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to the
listing and trading of such offshore companys securities
on an overseas stock exchange. On September 21, 2006 the
CSRC, pursuant to the M&A Rule, published on its official
web site procedures specifying documents and materials required
to be submitted to it by offshore companies seeking CSRC
approval of their overseas listings.
In the opinion of our PRC counsel, Jincheng & Tongda
Law Firm, CSRC approval is not required for this offering
because the CSRC approval required under the M&A Rule only
applies to an offshore company that has acquired a domestic PRC
company for the purpose of listing the domestic PRC
companys equity interest on an overseas stock exchange,
while (i) we obtained our equity interest in each of our
PRC subsidiaries by means of direct investment other than by
acquisition of the equity or assets of a PRC domestic company
and (ii) our contractual arrangements with ATA Online do
not constitute the acquisition of ATA Online. However, if the
CSRC or another PRC governmental agency subsequently determines
that we must obtain CSRC approval prior to the completion of
this offering, this offering will be delayed until we obtain
CSRC approval, which may take many months. If during or
following our offering it is determined that CSRC approval is
required, we may face regulatory actions or other sanctions from
the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies. These regulatory
agencies may impose fines and penalties on our operations in
China, limit our operating privileges in China, delay or
restrict the repatriation of the proceeds from this offering
into China, or take other actions that could have a material
adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of
operations, reputation and prospects, as well as the trading
price of our ADSs. The CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies
also may take actions requiring us, or making it advisable for
us, to halt this offering before settlement and delivery of the
ADSs offered hereby. Consequently, if you engage in market
trading or other activities in anticipation of and prior to
settlement and delivery, you do so at the risk that settlement
and delivery may not occur.
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The M&A Rule establishes more complex procedures for
some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors,
which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth
through acquisitions in China.
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The M&A Rule establishes additional procedures and
requirements that could make some acquisitions of Chinese
companies by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex,
including requirements in some instances that the Ministry of
Commerce be notified in advance of any change-of-control
transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a
Chinese domestic enterprise. In the future, we may grow our
business in part by acquiring complementary businesses, although
we do not have any plans to do so at this time. Complying with
the requirements of the M&A Rule to complete such
transactions could be time-consuming, and any required approval
processes, including obtaining approval from the Ministry of
Commerce, may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such
transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our
business or maintain our market share.
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Because we rely principally on dividends and other
distributions on equity paid by our current and future Chinese
subsidiaries for our cash requirements, restrictions under
Chinese law on their ability to make such payments could
materially and adversely affect our ability to grow, make
investments or acquisitions that could benefit our business, pay
dividends to you, and otherwise fund and conduct our
businesses.
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We have adopted a holding company structure, and our holding
companies rely principally on dividends and other distributions
on equity paid by our current and future Chinese subsidiaries
for their cash requirements, including the funds necessary to
service any debt we may incur or financing we may need for
operations other than through our Chinese subsidiaries. Chinese
legal restrictions permit payments of dividends by our Chinese
subsidiaries only out of their accumulated after-tax profits, if
any, determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards
and regulations. Our Chinese subsidiaries are also required
under Chinese laws and regulations to allocate at least 10% of
their after-tax profits determined in accordance with PRC GAAP
to statutory reserves until such reserves reach 50% of the
companys registered capital. Allocations to these
statutory reserves and funds can only be used for specific
purposes and are not transferable to us in the form of loans,
advances or cash dividends. As of March 31, 2007, our
Chinese subsidiaries had not allocated anything to these
reserves and funds because both of our Chinese subsidiaries have
cumulative deficits under PRC GAAP. The total amount of our
restricted net assets was RMB39.8 million
($5.3 million) as of March 31, 2007. Any limitations
on the ability of our Chinese subsidiaries to transfer funds to
us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow,
make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our
business, pay dividends and otherwise fund and conduct our
business.
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The discontinuation of any of the preferential tax
treatments currently enjoyed by our subsidiaries in the PRC
could materially increase our tax obligations.
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Under the old PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law for Foreign-Invested
Enterprises and Foreign Enterprises, effective until
December 31, 2007, our Chinese subsidiaries, ATA Testing
and ATA Learning, had been granted preferential tax treatment by
local and national Chinese tax authorities. For example, as
foreign-invested productive enterprises and new technology
enterprises formed in the Zhongguancun Science Park, a
high-technology zone in Beijing, ATA Testing and
ATA Learning were given tax incentives that have the effect
of (i) exempting them from enterprise income tax for their
first three tax years following establishment;
(ii) providing them a reduced enterprise income tax rate of
7.5% for the fourth through sixth tax years following
establishment; and (iii) providing them a preferential
enterprise income tax rate of 15% for tax years thereafter. ATA
Testing, established in 1999, enjoyed a preferential enterprise
income tax rate of 15% for the taxable year 2007, while ATA
Learning was exempted from enterprise income tax for the tax
years 2003, 2004 and 2005 and enjoyed a 7.5% enterprise income
tax rate for the tax years 2006 and 2007.
In March 2007, the National Peoples Congress of China
enacted a new Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the New EIT Law, and
in December 2007, the State Council promulgated the implementing
rules
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of the New EIT Law, both of which became effective on
January 1, 2008. The New EIT Law significantly curtails tax
incentives granted to foreign-invested enterprises under the
previous tax law. The New EIT Law, however, (i) reduces the
top rate of enterprise income tax from 33% to 25%,
(ii) permits companies to continue to enjoy their existing
tax incentives, subject to certain transitional phase-out rules,
and (iii) introduces new tax incentives, subject to various
qualification criteria. Under the phase-out rules, ATA Testing
is expected to be subject to a reduced 18% enterprise income tax
rate for the taxable year 2008, a 20% rate for 2009, a 22% rate
for 2010, a 24% rate for 2011, and a normal 25% rate from 2012
onwards. ATA Learning is expected to be subject to a reduced
7.5% enterprise income tax rate for the taxable year 2008, and
the same tax rates as those applicable to ATA Testing from 2009
onwards. The New EIT Law and its implementing rules permit
certain high-technology enterprises to enjoy a
reduced 15% enterprise income tax rate, although they do not
specify the qualification criteria. Pending promulgation of
detailed qualification criteria, we cannot assure you that ATA
Testing or ATA Learning will qualify as high-technology
enterprises under the New EIT Law. See Managements
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations Taxation. In addition, national PRC
tax authorities have indicated that preferential tax treatment
granted to companies registered in high-technology zones, such
as the Zhongguancun Science Park, should only apply if a
beneficiary companys operations are located within the
high-technology zone. From their inception, the main offices of
ATA Testing and ATA Learning and their employees have been
located outside of the Zhongguancun Science Park. However, to
date, the PRC tax authorities have not indicated, through their
periodic audits or otherwise, that our PRC subsidiaries are
ineligible for their preferential tax treatments. In the event
the preferential tax treatment for any of ATA Testing or ATA
Learning is discontinued, or if ATA Online is not granted or
loses preferential tax treatment, the affected entity will
become subject to the standard PRC enterprise income tax rate.
We cannot assure you that the local tax authorities will not, in
the future, change their position and discontinue any of our
preferential tax treatments, potentially with retroactive
effect. The discontinuation of any of our preferential tax
treatments could materially increase our tax obligations.
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Under Chinas new EIT Law, we may be classified as a
resident enterprise of China. Such classification
would likely result in unfavorable tax consequences to
us.
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Under the New EIT Law, an enterprise established outside of
China with de facto management bodies within China
is considered a PRC resident enterprise and will normally be
subject to enterprise income tax at the rate of 25% on its
global income. The implementing rules of the New EIT Law
define de facto management as substantial and overall
management and control over the production and operations,
personnel, accounting, and properties. Currently no
further interpretation or application of the New EIT Law and its
implementing rules is available, therefore it is unclear how tax
authorities will determine tax residency based on the facts of
each case. If Chinese tax authorities determine that our
ultimate holding company is a PRC resident enterprise, we may be
subject to enterprise income tax at the rate of 25% on our
global income. We are actively monitoring the possibility of
resident enterprise treatment for the 2008 tax year
and are evaluating appropriate organizational changes to avoid
this treatment, to the extent possible.
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Chinese regulation of loans and direct investments by
offshore holding companies or their Chinese subsidiaries or
affiliates may restrict our ability to use the proceeds of this
offering as planned and our ability to execute our business
strategy.
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In order to use our net proceeds from this offering in the
manner as described under Use of Proceeds, we must
invest the funds in our Chinese subsidiaries, through loans or
capital contributions, and in our affiliated PRC entity, ATA
Online, through loans. Under applicable Chinese laws, any loan
made by us to ATA Testing or ATA Learning, both of which are
foreign-invested enterprises, cannot exceed statutory limits
tied to each companys registered capital and total
investment as approved by the Ministry of Commerce or its local
counterpart, and all such loans must be registered with
Chinas State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE,
or its local counterpart. Loans by us to ATA Online, as a
domestic PRC enterprise, must be approved by the relevant
government authority and must also be
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registered with SAFE. We may also decide to finance ATA Testing
or ATA Learning by increasing their registered capital through
capital contributions. The Ministry of Commerce or its local
counterpart must approve any capital contributions to ATA
Testing or ATA Learning.
A failure by us to obtain the necessary government approvals or
complete any required registrations for a capital contribution,
an increase in approved total investment or a loan on a timely
basis, may restrict our ability to use the proceeds of this
offering as planned and our ability to execute our business
strategy.
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A failure by our shareholders who are Chinese citizens or
resident in China to comply with regulations issued by SAFE
could restrict our ability to distribute profits, restrict our
overseas and
cross-border investment
activities or subject us to liability under Chinese laws, which
could adversely affect our business and prospects.
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In October 2005, SAFE, issued the Notice on Issues Relating to
the Administration of Foreign Exchange in Fund-raising and
Return Investment Activities of Domestic Residents Conducted via
Offshore Special Purpose Companies, or Notice 75, which became
effective as of November 1, 2005. Notice 75 states
that Chinese residents must register with the relevant local
SAFE branch in connection with their establishment or control of
an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas
equity financing involving a round-trip investment whereby the
offshore entity acquires or controls onshore assets or equity
interests held by the Chinese residents.
Our shareholders who are Chinese residents did not establish our
offshore companies as part of a round-trip investment to acquire
or control through our offshore companies onshore assets or
equity interests originally held by such Chinese resident
shareholders. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that we remain in
full compliance with all Chinese foreign exchange-related
regulations, in 2006 our Chinese resident shareholders applied
for registration with the Beijing branch of SAFE under Notice
75, but were orally informed that the application could not be
accepted because Notice 75 does not apply to them. On
May 29, 2007, SAFE issued the Notice of Operation Guidance
for Notice 75, or Notice 106, according to which
Chinese resident shareholders in an offshore company which has
at least two years operating history and has made investment in
China can apply for registration under Notice 75. There is
no deadline for such registration. We have urged our Chinese
resident shareholders to register under Notice 75 and they are
preparing for such application. However, we cannot assure you
that the application will be accepted by SAFE. Failure by such
shareholders to comply with Notice 75 could subject us to fines
or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border
investment activities, limit our subsidiaries ability to
make distributions or pay dividends or affect our ownership
structure, which could adversely affect our business and
prospects. See Risks Relating to Regulation of Our
Business Because we rely principally on dividends
and other distributions on equity paid by our current and future
Chinese subsidiaries for our cash requirements, restrictions
under Chinese law on their ability to make such payments could
materially and adversely affect our ability to grow, make
investments or acquisitions that could benefit our business, pay
dividends to you, and otherwise fund and conduct our
businesses.
Risks Relating to the Peoples Republic of China
Substantially all of our operations are conducted in China.
Accordingly, our business, financial condition, results of
operations and prospects are subject, to a significant extent,
to economic, political and legal developments in China.
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Chinese economic, political and social conditions, as well
as changes in any government policies, laws and regulations,
could adversely affect the overall economy in China or the
prospects of the industries in which we operate, which in turn
could reduce our net revenues.
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The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed
countries in many respects, including the amount of government
involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of
foreign exchange and allocation of resources. While the Chinese
economy has experienced significant growth in
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the past two to three decades, growth has been uneven, both
geographically and among various sectors of the economy. Demand
for our products and services depends, in large part, on
economic conditions in China. Any slowdown in Chinas
economic growth may cause potential clients to delay or cancel
computer-based testing and IT and vocational education projects,
which in turn could reduce our net revenues.
Although the Chinese economy has been transitioning from a
planned economy to a more market-oriented economy since the late
1970s, the Chinese government continues to play a significant
role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial
policies. The Chinese government also exercises significant
control over Chinas economic growth through the allocation
of resources, controlling the incurrence and payment of foreign
currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and
providing preferential treatment to particular industries or
companies. Changes in any of these policies, laws and
regulations could adversely affect the overall economy in China
or the prospects of the industries in which we operate, which
could harm our business.
The Chinese government has implemented various measures to
encourage foreign investment and sustainable economic growth and
to guide the allocation of financial and other resources, which
have for the most part had a positive effect on our business and
growth. However, we cannot assure you that the Chinese
government will not repeal or alter these measures or introduce
new measures that will have a negative effect on us.
Chinas social and political conditions are also not as
stable as those of the United States and other developed
countries. Any sudden changes to Chinas political system
or the occurrence of widespread social unrest could have
negative effects on our business and results of operations. In
addition, China has contentious relations with some of its
neighbors, most notably Taiwan. A significant further
deterioration in such relations could have negative effects on
the Chinese economy and lead to changes in governmental policies
that would be adverse to our business interests.
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The Chinese legal system embodies uncertainties that could
limit the legal protections available to you and us.
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Unlike common law systems, the Chinese legal system is based on
written statutes and decided legal cases have little
precedential value. In 1979, the Chinese government began to
promulgate a comprehensive system of laws and regulations
governing economic matters in general. The overall effect of
legislation since then has been to significantly enhance the
protections afforded to various forms of foreign investment in
China. Our Chinese operating subsidiaries, ATA Testing and ATA
Learning, are wholly foreign-owned enterprises, which are
enterprises incorporated in China and wholly owned by foreign
investors, and both are subject to laws and regulations
applicable to foreign investment in China in general and laws
and regulations applicable to wholly foreign-owned enterprises
in particular. Our affiliated entity, ATA Online, is subject to
laws and regulations governing the formation and conduct of
domestic PRC companies. Relevant Chinese laws, regulations and
legal requirements may change frequently, and their
interpretation and enforcement involve uncertainties. For
example, we may have to resort to administrative and court
proceedings to enforce the legal protection that we enjoy either
by law or contract. However, since Chinese administrative and
court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting
and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more
difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court
proceedings and the level of legal protection we enjoy than in
more developed legal systems. Such uncertainties, including the
inability to enforce our contracts and intellectual property
rights, could materially and adversely affect our business and
operations. In addition, confidentiality protections in China
may not be as effective as in the United States or other
countries. Accordingly, we cannot predict the effect of future
developments in the Chinese legal system, particularly with
regard to the computer-based testing services sectors, including
the promulgation of new laws, changes to existing laws or the
interpretation or enforcement thereof, or the preemption of
local regulations by national laws. These uncertainties could
limit the legal protections available to us and other foreign
investors, including you.
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Restrictions on currency exchange may limit our ability to
utilize our revenues effectively and the ability of our Chinese
subsidiaries to obtain financing.
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A substantial majority of our revenues and operating expenses
are denominated in Renminbi. Restrictions on currency exchange
imposed by the Chinese government may limit our ability to
utilize revenues generated in Renminbi to fund our business
activities outside China, if any, or expenditures denominated in
foreign currencies. Under current Chinese regulations, Renminbi
may be freely converted into foreign currency for payments
relating to current account transactions, which
include among other things dividend payments and payments for
the import of goods and services, by complying with certain
procedural requirements. Our Chinese subsidiaries may also
retain foreign exchange in their respective current account bank
accounts, subject to a cap set by SAFE or its local counterpart,
for use in payment of international current account
transactions. Although the Renminbi has been fully convertible
for current account transactions since 1996, we cannot assure
you that the relevant Chinese government authorities will not
limit or eliminate our ability to purchase and retain foreign
currencies for current account transactions in the future.
Conversion of Renminbi into foreign currencies, and of foreign
currencies into Renminbi, for payments relating to capital
account transactions, which principally include
investments and loans, generally requires the approval of SAFE
and other relevant Chinese governmental authorities.
Restrictions on the convertibility of the Renminbi for capital
account transactions could affect the ability of our Chinese
subsidiaries to make investments overseas or to obtain foreign
exchange through debt or equity financing, including by means of
loans or capital contributions from us.
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Fluctuations in exchange rates could result in foreign
currency exchange losses.
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Because substantially all of our revenues and expenditures are
denominated in Renminbi and the net proceeds from this offering
will be denominated in U.S. dollars, fluctuations in the
exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and Renminbi will
affect the relative purchasing power of these proceeds and our
balance sheet and earnings per share in U.S. dollars
following this offering. In addition, appreciation or
depreciation in the value of the Renminbi relative to the
U.S. dollar would affect our financial results reported in
U.S. dollar terms without giving effect to any underlying
change in our business or results of operations. Fluctuations in
the exchange rate will also affect the relative value of any
dividend we issue after this offering that will be exchanged
into U.S. dollars and earnings from and the value of any
U.S. dollar-denominated investments we make in the future.
Since July 2005, the Renminbi has no longer been pegged to the
U.S. dollar. Although currently the Renminbi exchange rate
versus the U.S. dollar is restricted to a rise or fall of
no more than 0.5% per day and the Peoples Bank of
China regularly intervenes in the foreign exchange market to
prevent significant short-term fluctuations in the exchange
rate, the Renminbi may appreciate or depreciate significantly in
value against the U.S. dollar in the medium to long term.
Moreover, it is possible that in the future Chinese authorities
may lift restrictions on fluctuations in the Renminbi exchange
rate and lessen intervention in the foreign exchange market.
Very limited hedging transactions are available in China to
reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we
have not entered into any hedging transactions in an effort to
reduce our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we
may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the
availability and effectiveness of these hedging transactions may
be limited and we may not be able to successfully hedge our
exposure at all. In addition, our currency exchange losses may
be magnified by Chinese exchange control regulations that
restrict our ability to convert Renminbi into foreign currency.
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Any future outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome
or avian flu in China, or similar adverse public health
developments, may disrupt our business and operations.
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Our business and operations could be materially and adversely
affected by the outbreak of avian influenza, severe acute
respiratory syndrome, or SARS, or other similar adverse public
health development. In recent years, there have been reports on
the occurrences of avian influenza in various parts of China
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and neighboring countries, including a few confirmed human
cases. Any prolonged recurrence of an adverse public health
development may result in health or other government authorities
requiring the closure of our offices or the offices of our
clients, or the cancellation of exams or classes to avoid
students and others from congregating in closed spaces. Such
occurrences would disrupt our business operations and adversely
affect our results of operations. We have not adopted any
written preventive measures or contingency plans to combat any
future outbreak of avian flu, SARS or any other epidemic.
Risks Relating to This Offering
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An active trading market for our ADSs may not develop and
the trading price for our ADSs may fluctuate
significantly.
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Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our
ADSs or our common shares underlying the ADSs. If an active
public market for our ADSs does not develop after this offering,
the market price and liquidity of our ADSs may be adversely
affected. We have applied to list our ADSs on the Nasdaq Global
Market. We can provide no assurances that a liquid public market
for our ADSs will develop. The initial public offering price for
our ADSs will be determined by negotiation between us and the
underwriters based upon several factors, and we can provide no
assurance that the price at which the ADSs are traded after this
offering will not decline below the initial public offering
price. As a result, investors in our securities may experience a
decrease in the value of their ADSs regardless of our operating
performance or prospects. In the past, following periods of
volatility in the market price of a companys securities,
shareholders have often instituted securities class action
litigation against that company. If we were involved in a class
action suit, it could divert the attention of senior management,
and, if adversely determined, could have a material adverse
effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
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Stock prices of companies with business operations
primarily in China have fluctuated widely in recent years, and
the trading prices of our ADSs are likely to be volatile, which
could result in substantial losses to investors.
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The trading prices of our ADSs are likely to be volatile and
could fluctuate widely in response to factors beyond our
control. In particular, the performance and fluctuation of the
market prices of other technology companies with business
operations mainly in China that have listed their securities in
the United States may affect the volatility in the price of
and trading volumes for our ADSs. In recent years, a number of
Chinese companies have listed their securities, or are in the
process of preparing for listing their securities, on
U.S. stock markets. Some of these companies have
experienced significant volatility, including significant price
declines in connection with their initial public offerings. The
trading performances of these Chinese companies securities
at the time of or after their offerings may affect the overall
investor sentiment towards Chinese companies listed in the
United States and consequently may impact the trading
performance of our ADSs. These broad market and industry factors
may significantly affect the market price and volatility of our
ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance.
In addition to market and industry factors, the price and
trading volume for our ADSs may be highly volatile for specific
business reasons. Factors such as variations in our revenues,
earnings and cash flow, announcements of new investments,
cooperation arrangements or acquisitions, and fluctuations in
market prices for our services could cause the market price for
our ADSs to change substantially. Any of these factors may
result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at
which our ADSs will trade. We cannot give any assurance that
these factors will not occur in the future.
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The sale or availability for sale of substantial amounts
of our ADSs could adversely affect their market price.
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Sales of substantial amounts of our ADSs in the public market
after the completion of this offering, or the perception that
these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price
of our ADSs and could materially impair our future ability to
raise capital through offerings of our ADSs.
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There will be 43,378,710 common shares outstanding immediately
after this offering, or 44,840,912 common shares if the
underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs
in full. In addition, there are outstanding options and warrants
to purchase an aggregate of 5,114,411 common shares, including
options and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 3,604,041
common shares immediately exercisable as of the date of this
prospectus. All of the ADSs sold in this offering will be freely
tradable without restriction or further registration under the
U.S. Securities Act of 1933, or the Securities Act, unless
held by our affiliates as that term is defined in
Rule 144 under the Securities Act. Subject to the 180-day
lock-up restrictions described below and applicable restrictions
and limitations under Rule 144 of the Securities Act of
1933, all of our shares outstanding prior to this offering will
be eligible for sale in the public market. In addition, the
common shares subject to options and warrants for the purchase
of our common shares will become eligible for sale in the public
market to the extent permitted by the provisions of various
vesting agreements, the lock-up agreements described below and
Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act of 1933. If
these additional shares are sold, or if it is perceived that
they will be sold in the public market, the trading price of our
common shares could decline.
In connection with this offering, we and our directors, officers
and shareholders have agreed, subject to some exceptions, not to
sell any common shares or ADSs for 180 days after the date
of this prospectus without the written consent of the
underwriters. However, the underwriters may release these
securities from these lock-up restrictions at any time. We
cannot predict what effect, if any, market sales of securities
held by our significant shareholders or any other shareholder or
the availability of these securities for future sale will have
on the market price of our ADSs.
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A significant percentage of our outstanding common shares
are held by a small number of our existing shareholders, and
these shareholders may have significantly greater influence on
us and our corporate actions by nature of the size of their
shareholdings relative to our public shareholders.
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Following this offering, four of our existing shareholders,
Kevin Xiaofeng Ma, Lijun Mai, Walter Lin Wang and SB Asia
Investment Fund II, will beneficially own, collectively,
approximately 61.8% of our outstanding common shares (assuming
the conversion of all outstanding preferred shares into common
shares) or 59.7% if the underwriters exercise their option to
purchase additional ADSs in full. Each of these shareholders is
expected to be an affiliate within the meaning of the Securities
Act after this offering, due to the size of their respective
shareholdings in us after the offering. Following this offering,
SB Asia Investment Fund II, L.P. is expected to have one
board representative on our
five-director board,
and will beneficially own approximately 29.3% of our outstanding
common shares (assuming the conversion of all outstanding
preferred shares into common shares) or 28.3% if the
underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs
in full. Accordingly, these shareholders have had, and may
continue to have, significant influence in determining the
outcome of any corporate transaction or other matter submitted
to the shareholders for approval, including mergers,
consolidations and the sale of all or substantially all of our
assets, election of directors and other significant corporate
actions. In addition, without the consent of these shareholders,
we could be prevented from entering into transactions that could
be beneficial to us.
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Because the initial public offering price is substantially
higher than the pro forma net tangible book value per share, you
will incur immediate and substantial dilution.
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If you purchase ADSs in this offering, you will pay more for
your ADSs than the amount paid by existing shareholders for
their common shares on a per ADS basis. As a result, you will
experience immediate and substantial dilution of approximately
$8.12 per ADS (assuming the conversion of all outstanding
preferred shares into common shares and no exercise of
outstanding options to acquire common shares), representing the
difference between our pro forma net tangible book value per ADS
as of September 30, 2007, after giving effect to this
offering and the assumed initial public offering price of
$10.50 per ADS (the mid-point of the estimated range of the
initial public offering price shown on the front cover of this
prospectus). In addition, you may experience further dilution to
the extent that our common shares are issued upon the exercise
of share options. Substantially all of the common shares
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issuable upon the exercise of currently outstanding share
options will be issued at a purchase price on a per ADS basis
that is less than the initial public offering price per ADS in
this offering.
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Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents
may discourage our acquisition by a third party, which could
limit your opportunity to sell your shares at a premium.
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Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association
include provisions that could limit the ability of others to
acquire control of us, modify our structure or cause us to
engage in change of control transactions, including, among other
things, the following:
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provisions that restrict the ability of our shareholders to call
meetings and to propose special matters for consideration at
shareholder meetings; and |
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provisions that authorize our board of directors, without action
by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares and to issue
additional common shares, including common shares represented by
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These provisions could have the effect of depriving you of an
opportunity to sell your ADSs at a premium over prevailing
market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to
acquire control of us in a tender offer or similar transactions.
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We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the
net proceeds from this offering and we may use these proceeds in
ways with which you may not agree.
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We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net
proceeds of this offering. Our management will have considerable
discretion in the application of these proceeds received by us.
You will not have the opportunity, as part of your investment
decision, to assess whether the proceeds are being used
appropriately. You must rely on the judgment of our management
regarding the application of the net proceeds of this offering.
The net proceeds may be used for corporate purposes that do not
improve our profitability or increase our ADS price. The net
proceeds from this offering may also be placed in investments
that do not produce income or that may lose value.
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The voting rights of holders of ADSs must be exercised in
accordance with the terms of the deposit agreement, the ADRs,
and the procedures established by the depositary. The process of
voting through the depositary may involve delays that limit the
time available to you to consider proposed shareholders
actions and also may restrict your ability to subsequently
revise your voting instructions.
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A holder of ADSs may exercise its voting rights with respect to
the underlying common shares only in accordance with the
provisions of the deposit agreement and the ADRs. We do not
recognize holders of ADSs representing our common shares as our
shareholders, and instead we recognize the ADS depositary as our
shareholder.
When the depositary receives from us notice of any shareholders
meeting, it will distribute the information in the meeting
notice and any proxy solicitation materials to you. The
depositary will determine the record date for distributing these
materials, and only ADS holders registered with the depositary
on that record date will, subject to applicable laws, be
entitled to instruct the depositary to vote the underlying
common shares. The depositary will also determine and inform you
of the manner for you to give your voting instructions,
including instructions to give discretionary proxies to a person
designated by us. Upon receipt of voting instructions of a
holder of ADSs, the depositary will endeavor to vote the
underlying common shares in accordance with these instructions.
You may not receive sufficient notice of a shareholders
meeting for you to withdraw your common shares and cast your
vote with respect to any proposed resolution, as a holder of our
common shares. In addition, the depositary and its agents may
not be able to send materials relating to the meeting and voting
instruction forms to you, or to carry out your voting
instructions, in a timely manner. We cannot assure you that you
will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can
instruct the depositary to vote your shares. The additional time
required for the depositary to receive from us and distribute to
you meeting notices and materials, and for you to give
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voting instructions to the depositary with respect to the
underlying common shares, will result in your having less time
to consider meeting notices and materials than holders of common
shares who receive such notices and materials directly from us
and who vote their common shares directly. If you have given
your voting instructions to the depositary and subsequently
decide to change those instructions, you may not be able to do
so in time for the depositary to vote in accordance with your
revised instructions. The depositary and its agents will not be
responsible for any failure to carry out any instructions to
vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect
of any such vote.
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Except in limited circumstances, the depositary for our
ADSs will give us a discretionary proxy to vote our common
shares underlying your ADSs if you do not vote at
shareholders meetings, which could adversely affect your
interests.
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Under the deposit agreement for the ADSs, the depositary will
give us a discretionary proxy to vote our common shares
underlying your ADSs at shareholders meetings if you do
not vote, unless we notify the depositary that:
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we do not wish to receive a discretionary proxy; |
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we think there is substantial shareholder opposition to the
particular question; or |
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we think the subject of the particular question would have a
material adverse impact on our shareholders. |
The effect of this discretionary proxy is that, absent the
situations described above, you cannot prevent our common shares
underlying your ADSs from being voted and it may make it more
difficult for shareholders to influence the management of our
company. Holders of our common shares are not subject to this
discretionary proxy.
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You may not receive distributions on our common shares or
any value for them if such distribution is illegal or if any
required government approval cannot be obtained in order to make
such distribution available to you.
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The depositary of our ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash
dividends or other distributions it or the custodian for our
ADSs receives on our common shares or other deposited securities
after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these
distributions in proportion to the number of our common shares
your ADSs represent. However, the depositary is not responsible
to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs if it
decides that it is unlawful to make such distribution. For
example, it would be unlawful to make a distribution to a holder
of ADSs if it consisted of securities that required registration
under the Securities Act but that were not properly registered
or distributed pursuant to an applicable exemption from
registration. The depositary is not responsible for making a
distribution available to any holders of ADSs if any government
approval or registration required for such distribution cannot
be obtained after reasonable efforts made by the depositary. We
have no obligation to take any other action to permit the
distribution of our ADSs, common shares, rights or anything else
to holders of our ADSs. This means that you may not receive the
distributions we make on our common shares or any value for them
if it is unlawful or unreasonable from a regulatory perspective
for us to make them available to you. These restrictions may
have a material adverse effect on the value of your ADSs.
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You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your
ADSs.
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Your ADSs represented by ADRs are transferable on the books of
the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at
any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in
connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary
may close its books from time to time for a number of reasons,
including in connection with corporate events such as a rights
offering, during which time the depositary needs to maintain an
exact number of ADS holders on its books for a specified period.
The depositary may also close its books in emergencies, and on
weekends and public holidays. The depositary may refuse to
deliver, transfer or register transfers of our ADSs generally
when the books of the depositary
35
are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary thinks it is
advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or any
government or government body, or under any provision of the
deposit agreement, or for any other reason.
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We are a Cayman Islands company and, because judicial
precedent regarding the rights of shareholders is more limited
under Cayman Islands law than under U.S. federal or state
laws, you may have less protection of your shareholder rights
than you would under U.S. federal or state laws.
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Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated
memorandum and articles of association, the Cayman Islands
Companies Law and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The
rights of shareholders to take action against the directors,
actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary
responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law
are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman
Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part
from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman
Islands as well as from English common law, which has
persuasive, but not binding, authority on a court in the Cayman
Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary
responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are
not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or
judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States.
In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of
securities laws than the United States. In addition, some
jurisdictions, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and
judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman
Islands. As a result of all of the above, public shareholders
may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the
face of actions taken by management, members of the board of
directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public
shareholders of a U.S. company.
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Certain judgments obtained against us by our shareholders
may not be enforceable.
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We are a Cayman Islands company and substantially all of our
assets are located outside of the United States. Nearly all of
our current operations are conducted in China. In addition, most
of our directors and officers are nationals and residents of
countries other than the United States. A substantial portion of
the assets of these persons are located outside the United
States. As a result, it may be difficult for you to effect
service of process within the United States upon these persons.
It may also be difficult for you to enforce in U.S. court
judgments obtained in U.S. courts based on the civil
liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws
against us and our officers and directors, none of whom is
resident in the United States and the substantial majority of
whose assets is located outside of the United States. In
addition, there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the
Cayman Islands or China would recognize or enforce judgments of
U.S. courts against us or such persons predicated upon the
civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United
States or any state. In addition, there is uncertainty as to
whether such Cayman Islands or Chinese courts would be competent
to hear original actions brought in the Cayman Islands or China
against us or such persons predicated upon the securities laws
of the United States or any state. See Enforceability of
Civil Liabilities.
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Your right to participate in any future rights offerings
may be limited, which may cause dilution to your
holdings.
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We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders,
including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot
make rights available to you in the United States unless we
register the rights and the securities to which the rights
relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the
registration requirements is available. We are under no
obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any
such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a
registration statement to be declared effective. Moreover, we
may not be able to establish an exemption from registration
under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you may be unable to
participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution
in your holdings.
36
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus and in particular the sections entitled
Prospectus Summary, Risk Factors,
Use of Proceeds, Recent Developments,
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations, Industry,
Business and Regulation contain
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are
based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and
projections about us and our industry. In some cases, these
forward-looking statements can be identified by words and
phrases such as may, should,
intend, predict, potential,
continue, will, expect,
anticipate, estimate, plan,
believe, is /are likely to or the
negative form of these words and phrases or other comparable
expressions. The forward-looking statements included in this
prospectus relate to, among others:
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our goals and strategies; |
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our future prospects and market acceptance of our technologies,
products and services; |
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our future business development and results of operations; |
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projected revenues, profits, earnings and other estimated
financial information; |
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our plans to expand and enhance our other existing products and
services; |
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competition in the computer-based testing, educational services
and test preparation markets; and |
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Chinese laws, regulations and policies, including those
applicable to the education industry, Internet content
providers, Internet content and foreign exchange. |
These forward-looking statements involve various risks and
uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations
expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we
cannot assure you that our expectations will turn out to be
correct. Our actual results could be materially different from
or worse than our expectations. Important risks and factors that
could cause our actual results to be materially different from
our expectations are set forth in the Risk Factors,
Recent Developments, Managements
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations, Business and elsewhere in this
prospectus.
This prospectus also contains data relating to the testing and
education markets in China and internationally that includes
projections based on a number of assumptions. These markets may
not grow at the rates projected by market data, or at all. The
failure of these markets to grow at the projected rates may have
a material adverse effect on our business prospects, results of
operations and the market price of our ADSs. In addition, the
relatively new and rapidly changing nature of these markets
subjects any projections or estimates relating to the growth
prospects or future condition of these markets to significant
uncertainties. If any one or more of the assumptions underlying
the market data turns out to be incorrect, actual results may
differ from the projections based on these assumptions. You
should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements.
The forward-looking statements made in this prospectus relate
only to events or information as of the date on which the
statements are made in this prospectus. We undertake no
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements
after the date of this prospectus.
37
OUR CORPORATE STRUCTURE
Corporate History
Our predecessor company, American Testing Authority, Inc., a New
York company, began operations in 1999, and in that same year
established ATA Testing Authority (Beijing) Limited, or
ATA Testing, as a wholly owned subsidiary in China. In
November 2001 our founders established ATA Testing
Authority (Holdings) Limited, or ATA BVI, in the British Virgin
Islands. The following year American Testing Authority, Inc.
merged into ATA BVI and ATA BVI became our holding company.
In June 2003, we established a Chinese joint venture company,
ATA Learning (Beijing) Inc., or ATA Learning, with Yinchuan
Holding. Initially, we held a 40% equity interest in ATA
Learning. We also had a call option to acquire Yinchuan
Holdings 60% equity interest for RMB30 million, and
Yinchuan Holding had a put option that would have obligated us,
if exercised, to purchase Yinchuan Holdings 60% equity
interest for RMB30 million. In May 2005, we exercised our
call option and converted ATA Learning into a wholly owned
subsidiary of ATA BVI. As the primary beneficiary of ATA
Learning, we have consolidated ATA Learnings results of
operations in our U.S. GAAP consolidated financial statements
since ATA Learnings establishment.
We incorporated ATA Inc. in the Cayman Islands in September 2006
as our listing vehicle. ATA Inc. became our ultimate holding
company in November 2006 when it issued shares to the existing
shareholders of ATA BVI in exchange for all of the outstanding
shares of ATA BVI.
We and our subsidiaries also previously held equity interests in
the following entities:
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In December 2001, ATA Testing established and held a 50%
interest in a Chinese joint venture company, Beijing Sai Er
Xingyuan Leadership Ability Testing Technologies Development Co.
Ltd., or Sai Er Testing, with one other joint venture partner.
In October 2005, ATA Testing sold its 50% equity interest in Sai
Er Testing. |
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In April 2002, ATA Testing established a Chinese joint venture
company, Jiangsu ATA Software Co. Ltd., or ATA Jiangsu,
with two other joint venture partners, with ATA Testing
holding 30% of the equity interest in ATA Jiangsu. In May 2006,
ATA Jiangsu completed a voluntary winding up. |
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In April 2005, ATA Learning established Xiamen Wendu Software
Education Investment Co. Ltd., or Wendu Education, with two
other partners. ATA Learning is in the process of disposing
its 40% equity interest holding in Wendu Education, which we
expect to be completed in the fiscal year ending March 31,
2008. |
We disposed or are in the process of disposing of these
interests to eliminate these entities from our corporate
structure and streamline our operations.
Corporate Structure and Arrangements with Our Affiliated PRC
Entity
In connection with the launch of our test preparation solutions
in November 2006, we have, for the first time, become a
distributor of Internet content, which subjects us to
significant restrictions on foreign investment in this sector
under current PRC laws and regulations. See
Regulation. To comply with PRC laws and regulations,
our online test preparation business in China is conducted
through a series of contractual arrangements entered into among
ATA BVI, ATA Learning and ATA Online (Beijing) Education
Technology Limited, ATA Online, a PRC entity incorporated
in the PRC and owned by Kevin Xiaofeng Ma, our co-founder,
chairman and chief executive officer and Walter Lin Wang, our
co-founder, director and president, in the percentages described
in the diagram below. ATA Online holds the license required to
operate the online portion of our test preparation solutions
business.
Our contractual arrangements with ATA Online include a technical
support agreement and a strategic consulting service agreement
pursuant to which ATA Learning is entitled to receive service
and license fees from ATA Online. In addition, we have entered
into an equity pledge agreement with each of
38
the shareholders of ATA Online pursuant to which each of the
shareholders has pledged all of his or her interest in ATA
Online to ATA Learning as security for the performance of ATA
Onlines obligations under the technical support agreement
and the strategic consulting service agreement. Pursuant to a
call option and cooperation agreement with ATA Online and its
shareholders, ATA BVI or any third party designated by ATA BVI
has the right to acquire, in whole or in part, the equity
interest of ATA Online or ATA Onlines assets, when
permitted by applicable PRC laws and regulations. We do not have
any direct ownership interest or direct shareholding rights in
ATA Online and as a result do not have direct control or direct
oversight over ATA Online. For a detailed description of these
contractual arrangements, see Related Party
Transactions. As a result of these contractual
arrangements, under U.S. GAAP, we are considered the
primary beneficiary of ATA Online. Accordingly, we consolidate
ATA Onlines results in our consolidated financial
statements.
The following diagram illustrates our corporate and share
ownership structure. Except for ATA BVI, all of our subsidiaries
and our affiliated PRC entity are incorporated in the PRC.
Our subsidiaries or ATA Online enter into commercial contracts
with third party customers and clients based upon a judgment we
make as to which entity is the appropriate entity for the
provision of the type of service being offered. We primarily
sell our testing services and the non-online portion of our test
preparation solutions business through ATA Testing, our
education services through ATA Learning and our online test
preparation services through ATA Online.
For risks associated with our contractual arrangements with ATA
Online and its shareholders, see Risk Factors
Risks Relating to Regulation of Our Business
Substantial uncertainties and restrictions exist with respect to
the application and implementation of Chinese laws and
regulations relating to Internet content distribution. If the
Chinese government finds that the structure for our online test
preparation services and other services we provide through the
Internet do not comply with Chinese laws and regulations, we
could be subject to penalties and may not be able to continue
those businesses. and Our contractual
arrangements with ATA Online and its shareholders do not provide
us with ownership interest in ATA Online. If ATA Online or its
shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under
these contractual arrangements, we may have to legally enforce
such arrangements and our business, financial condition and
results of operations may be materially and adversely affected
if these arrangements cannot be enforced.
39
USE OF PROCEEDS
We estimate that we will receive net proceeds from this offering
of approximately $43.8 million, or approximately
$50.9 million if the underwriters exercise their
overallotment option in full, after deducting underwriting
discounts and other estimated offering expenses payable by us
and assuming an initial public offering price of $10.50 per
ADS, the mid-point of the estimated range of the initial public
offering price shown on the front cover of this prospectus.
As of the date of this prospectus, we anticipate using the net
proceeds from this offering as follows:
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approximately $2 million to develop and expand our test
preparation solutions business; |
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approximately $2 million to license course content from IT
vendors to expand our degree major and single course program
offerings; |
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approximately $1 million for marketing costs related to
enhancing our ATA brand; and |
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the balance to fund working capital and for other general
corporate purposes, including incremental costs associated with
being a public company, and for acquisitions of or investments
in other businesses, products or technologies that we believe
are complementary to our own business or that otherwise extend
our business or brand. We do not currently have any agreements
or understandings to make any material acquisitions of, or
investments in, other businesses. |
The industries in which we operate are evolving rapidly which
could cause significant and rapid changes to our strategies and
business plans. The foregoing represents our current intentions
with respect to the use and allocation of the net proceeds from
this offering based upon our present plans and business
conditions, but our management will have broad flexibility and
discretion in applying the net proceeds from this offering. The
occurrence of new business opportunities, unforeseen events or
changed business conditions may result in application of the
proceeds from this offering in a manner other than as described
in this prospectus.
To the extent that a certain portion or all of the net proceeds
we receive from this offering are not immediately applied for
the above purposes, we intend to invest our net proceeds in
short-term, investment grade, debt securities or to deposit the
proceeds into interest-bearing bank accounts. These investments
may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. federal
income tax consequences of your investment in our ADSs. It is
possible that we may become a PFIC for U.S. federal income
taxpayers, which could result in negative tax consequences to
you. See Taxation United States Federal Income
Taxation U.S. Holders Status as a
PFIC.
40
DIVIDEND POLICY
In March 2005, our board of directors approved the issuance of
3,584,680 treasury shares to our shareholders. The estimated
fair value of the issuance was RMB26.4 million. Out of the
total number of shares issued, 2,730,739 shares were
allocated and distributed on a pro rata basis to all
shareholders and were accounted for as a share
split-up effected in
the form of a share dividend. The remaining 853,941 shares
were distributed to one shareholder and were accounted for as a
share-based compensation expense. See Related Party
Transactions Share Repurchases and Private
Placement. We have never declared cash dividends on our
common shares. We currently intend to retain all available funds
and any future earnings to finance our business and to fund the
growth and expansion of our business, and, therefore, do not
expect to pay any cash dividends on our common shares, including
those represented by ADSs, in the foreseeable future. Any future
determination to pay dividends will be made at the discretion of
our board of directors and will be based upon our future
operations and earnings, capital requirements and surplus,
general financial condition, shareholders interests,
contractual restrictions and other factors our board of
directors may deem relevant.
Holders of our ADSs will be entitled to receive dividends, if
any, subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, to the same
extent as the holders of our common shares. Cash dividends will
be paid to the depositary in U.S. dollars, which will
distribute them to the holders of ADSs according to the terms of
the deposit agreement. Other distributions, if any, will be paid
by the depositary to the holders of ADSs in any means it deems
legal, fair and practical. See Description of American
Depositary Shares Other Distributions.
41
CAPITALIZATION
The following table sets forth our capitalization as of
September 30, 2007 presented on:
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an actual basis; |
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a pro forma basis to reflect the automatic conversion of all of
our Series A and
Series A-1
convertible preferred shares into an aggregate of 11,730,554 of
our common shares; and |
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a pro forma as adjusted basis to give effect to (1) the
issuance and sale of 4,874,012 ADSs in this offering, assuming
an initial public offering price of $10.50 per ADS, the
mid-point of the estimated range of the initial public offering
price shown on the front cover of this prospectus, and assuming
the underwriters do not exercise their overallotment option, and
after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and estimated
offering expenses payable by us; and (2) the automatic
conversion of all of our Series A and
Series A-1
convertible preferred shares into an aggregate of 11,730,554 of
our common shares. |
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There has been no material change in our consolidated
capitalization since September 30, 2007.
You should read this section in conjunction with Selected
Consolidated Financial and Operating Data,
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations and our consolidated
financial statements and corresponding notes thereto included
elsewhere in this prospectus.
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As of September 30, 2007 |
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Pro forma as |
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Actual |
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Pro forma |
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adjusted(1) |
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RMB |
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$ |
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RMB |
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$ |
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RMB |
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$ |
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(In thousands except for share and per share data) |
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Shareholders equity:
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Convertible preferred shares, $0.01 par value;
10,000,000 shares authorized, including:
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Series A convertible preferred shares; 6,628,369 shares
issued on an actual basis and nil shares issued on a
pro forma and pro forma as adjusted basis
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533 |
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71 |
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Series A-1 convertible preferred shares;
883,783 shares issued on an actual basis and nil shares
issued on a pro forma and pro forma as adjusted basis
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71 |
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10 |
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Common shares, $0.01 par value;
40,000,000 shares authorized, 25,479,452, 37,210,006
and 46,958,030 shares issued on an actual, proforma and
pro forma as adjusted
basis(2)
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2,094 |
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279 |
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2,967 |
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396 |
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3,703 |
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494 |
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Treasury shares 3,579,320 common shares, at cost
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(16,107 |
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(2,150 |
) |
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(16,107 |
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(2,150 |
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(16,107 |
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(2,150 |
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Additional paid-in
capital(3)
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204,191 |
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27,252 |
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203,922 |
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27,216 |
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531,049 |
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70,875 |
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Accumulated deficit
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(126,552 |
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(16,890 |
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(126,552 |
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(16,890 |
) |
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(126,552 |
) |
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(16,890 |
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Total shareholders
equity(3)
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64,230 |
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8,572 |
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64,230 |
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8,572 |
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392,093 |
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52,329 |
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Total
capitalization(3)
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64,230 |
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8,572 |
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64,230 |
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8,572 |
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392,093 |
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52,329 |
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42
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(1) |
Assumes that the underwriters do not exercise their option to
purchase additional ADSs. |
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(2) |
Excludes 4,047,863 common shares issuable upon the exercise of
options under our share option plans and 547,945 common shares
issuable upon the exercise of warrants as of September 30,
2007, 391,800 common shares issuable upon exercise of options
granted on October 1, 2007, and 126,803 common shares
issuable upon exercise of warrants granted on October 15,
2007. |
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(3) |
Assuming the number of ADSs offered by us as set forth on the
cover page of this prospectus remains the same, and after
deduction of underwriting discounts and the estimated offering
expenses payable by us, a $1.00 increase (decrease) in the
assumed initial public offering price of US$10.50 per ADS
would increase (decrease) each of additional paid-in capital,
total shareholders equity and total capitalization by
approximately US$4.5 million. |
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43
DILUTION
If you invest in our ADSs, your interest will be diluted to the
extent of the difference between the initial public offering
price per ADS and the pro forma net tangible book value per ADS
after this offering. Our net tangible book value as of
September 30, 2007 was approximately $7.7 million, or
$0.35 per common share outstanding on that date, or
$0.70 per ADS. Net tangible book value represents total
consolidated tangible assets minus the amount of our total
consolidated liabilities. Our pro forma net tangible book value
as of September 30, 2007 was approximately $0.23 per
common share, or $0.46 per ADS. Pro forma net tangible book
value adjusts net tangible book value to give effect to the
conversion of all of our outstanding preferred shares into our
common shares. See Capitalization. Assuming we had
sold the ADSs offered in this offering at an assumed initial
public offering price of $10.50 per ADS, and after
deducting underwriting discounts and estimated expenses of this
offering payable by us, our pro forma net tangible book value as
of September 30, 2007 would have been $1.19 per common
share, or $2.38 per ADS. This represents an immediate
increase in pro forma net tangible book value of $0.96 per
common share, or $1.92 per ADS, to existing shareholders
and an immediate dilution in net tangible book value of
$4.06 per common share, or $8.12 per ADS, to new
investors purchasing ADSs at the initial public offering price.
The following table illustrates such per ADS dilution. The
assumed initial public offering price per share set forth below
of $5.25 is based on the mid-point of the estimated range
of the initial public offering price shown on the front cover of
this prospectus.
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Assumed initial public offering price per common share
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$ |
5.25 |
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Net tangible book value per common share as of
September 30, 2007
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$ |
0.35 |
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Increase in pro forma net tangible book value per common share
attributable to existing shareholders
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$ |
0.96 |
|
Pro forma net tangible book value per common share after this
offering
|
|
$ |
1.19 |
|
Dilution in pro forma net tangible book value per common share
to new investors
|
|
$ |
4.06 |
|
Dilution in pro forma net tangible book value per ADS to new
investors
|
|
$ |
8.12 |
|
The following table summarizes, on a pro forma basis as of
September 30, 2007, the differences between our existing
shareholders and the new investors with respect to the number of
common shares purchased from us, the total consideration paid to
us and the average price per common share paid by our existing
shareholders and by the new investors purchasing common shares
evidenced by ADS in this offering at the initial public offering
price of $10.50 per ADS and without giving effect to
underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable
by us.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Common Shares |
|
|
|
|
Average Price |
|
|
|
|
|
Purchased |
|
|
Total Consideration |
|
|
Per Ordinary |
|
|
Average Price |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share |
|
|
Per ADS |
|
|
|
Number |
|
|
Percent |
|
|
Amount |
|
|
Percent |
|
|
Equivalent |
|
|
Equivalent |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Existing shareholders
|
|
|
33,631 |
|
|
|
78 |
% |
|
$ |
22,080 |
|
|
|
30 |
% |
|
$ |
0.66 |
|
|
$ |
1.32 |
|
New investors
|
|
|
9,748 |
|
|
|
22 |
% |
|
|
51,177 |
|
|
|
70 |
% |
|
|
5.25 |
|
|
|
10.50 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
|
|
43,379 |
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
$ |
73,257 |
|
|
|
100 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
44
The foregoing discussion and tables assume no exercise of any
outstanding options or warrants to purchase our common shares.
As of September 30, 2007, there were options and warrants
outstanding to purchase an aggregate of 4,595,808 common
shares at a weighted average exercise price of $1.94 per
share. In addition, options to purchase 391,800 common shares
were granted on October 1, 2007 and warrants to purchase
126,803 common shares were granted on October 15, 2007. If
all of the options and warrants outstanding as of
September 30, 2007 (excluding the options to purchase
391,800 common shares granted on October 1, 2007 and the
warrants to purchase 126,803 common shares granted on
October 15, 2007) had been exercised on September 30,
2007, after giving effect to this offering, our pro forma net
tangible book value would have been approximately $1.26 per
common share or $2.52 per ADS, the increase in pro forma
net tangible book value attributable to existing shareholders
would have been $0.07 per common share, or $0.14 per
ADS, and the dilution in pro forma net tangible book value to
new investors would have been $3.99 per common share, or
$7.98 per ADS. In addition, the dilution would have been
$3.89 per common share, or $7.78 per ADS, if the
underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs
in full.
45
ENFORCEABILITY OF CIVIL LIABILITIES
Our ultimate holding company, ATA Inc., is incorporated under
the laws of the Cayman Islands as an exempted company with
limited liability. We incorporated ATA Inc. in the Cayman
Islands because of certain benefits associated with being a
Cayman Islands corporation, such as political and economic
stability, an effective judicial system, a favorable tax system,
the absence of foreign exchange control or currency restrictions
and the availability of professional and support services.
However, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of
securities laws as compared to the United States and provides
protections for investors to a significantly lesser extent. In
addition, Cayman Islands companies do not have standing to sue
before the federal courts of the United States.
Substantially all of our assets are located outside the United
States. In addition, most of our directors and officers may be
nationals or residents of jurisdictions other than the United
States and a substantial portion of their assets may be located
outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for
investors to effect service of process within the United States
upon us or these persons, or to enforce against us or them
judgments obtained in United States courts, including judgments
predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities
laws of the United States or any state in the United States.
We have appointed CT Corporation System as ATA Inc.s agent
to receive service of process with respect to any action brought
against ATA Inc. in the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York under the federal securities laws
of the United States or of any state in the United States or any
action brought against ATA Inc. in the Supreme Court of the
State of New York in the County of New York under the securities
laws of the State of New York.
Conyers, Dill & Pearman, Cayman, our counsel as to
Cayman Islands law, and Jincheng & Tongda Law Firm, our
counsel as to Chinese law, have advised us that there is
uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands or
China would, respectively, (i) recognize or enforce
judgments of United States courts obtained against us or our
directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability
provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any
state in the United States, or (ii) entertain original
actions brought in the Cayman Islands or China against us or our
directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability
provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any
state in the United States.
Conyers, Dill & Pearman has further advised us that a
final and conclusive judgment in the federal or state courts of
the United States under which a sum of money is payable, other
than a sum payable in respect of taxes, fines, penalties or
similar charges, may be subject to enforcement proceedings as a
debt in the courts of the Cayman Islands under the common law
doctrine of obligation, provided that (a) such federal or
state courts of the United States had proper jurisdiction over
the parties subject to such judgment; (b) such federal or
state courts of the United States did not contravene the rules
of natural justice of the Cayman Islands; (c) such judgment
was not obtained by fraud; (d) the enforcement of the
judgment would not be contrary to the public policy of the
Cayman Islands; (e) no new admissible evidence relevant to
the action is submitted prior to the rendering of the judgment
by the courts of the Cayman Islands; and (f) there is due
compliance with the correct procedures under the laws of the
Cayman Islands.
Jincheng & Tongda Law Firm has advised us further that
the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments are
provided for under the Chinese Civil Procedure Law. Chinese
courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance
with the requirements of the Chinese Civil Procedure Law based
either on treaties between China and the country where the
judgment is made or on reciprocity between jurisdictions.
46
EXCHANGE RATE INFORMATION
Our business is primarily conducted in China and a substantial
majority of our revenues and expenses are denominated in
Renminbi. For your convenience, this prospectus contains
translations of Renminbi amounts into U.S. dollars at
specified rates. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from
Renminbi to U.S. dollar amounts were made at the noon
buying rate in the City of New York for cable transfers of
Renminbi as certified for customs purposes by the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, as of September 28, 2007, which
was RMB7.4928 to $1.00. On January 15, 2008, the noon
buying rate was RMB7.2345 to $1.00. We make no representation
that the Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts referred to in
this prospectus could have been or could be converted into
U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any
particular rate or at all. The Chinese government restricts or
prohibits the conversion of Renminbi into foreign currency and
foreign currency into Renminbi for certain types of transactions.
The following table sets forth information concerning exchange
rates between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar for the
periods indicated. These rates are provided solely for your
convenience and are not necessarily the exchange rates that we
used in this prospectus or will use in the preparation of our
periodic reports or any other information to be provided to you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Renminbi per U.S. Dollar Noon Buying Rate |
|
|
|
|
|
Average(1)
|
|
High |
|
Low |
|
Period-end |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fiscal year ended March 31, 2003
|
|
|
8.2773 |
|
|
|
8.2800 |
|
|
|
8.2700 |
|
|
|
8.2774 |
|
Fiscal year ended March 31, 2004
|
|
|
8.2770 |
|
|
|
8.2798 |
|
|
|
8.2765 |
|
|
|
8.2770 |
|
Fiscal year ended March 31, 2005
|
|
|
8.2767 |
|
|
|
8.2773 |
|
|
|
8.2764 |
|
|
|
8.2765 |
|
Fiscal year ended March 31, 2006
|
|
|
8.1234 |
|
|
|
8.2765 |
|
|
|
8.0167 |
|
|
|
8.0167 |
|
Fiscal year ended March 31, 2007
|
|
|
7.8843 |
|
|
|
8.0300 |
|
|
|
7.7232 |
|
|
|
7.7232 |
|
Most recent six months:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
July 2007
|
|
|
7.5757 |
|
|
|
7.6055 |
|
|
|
7.5580 |
|
|
|
7.5720 |
|
|
August 2007
|
|
|
7.5734 |
|
|
|
7.6181 |
|
|
|
7.5420 |
|
|
|
7.5462 |
|
|
September 2007
|
|
|
7.5196 |
|
|
|
7.5540 |
|
|
|
7.4928 |
|
|
|
7.4928 |
|
|
October 2007
|
|
|
7.5016 |
|
|
|
7.5158 |
|
|
|
7.4682 |
|
|
|
7.4682 |
|
|
November 2007
|
|
|
7.4212 |
|
|
|
7.4582 |
|
|
|
7.3800 |
|
|
|
7.3850 |
|
|
December 2007
|
|
|
7.3682 |
|
|
|
7.4120 |
|
|
|
7.2946 |
|
|
|
7.2946 |
|
|
January 2008 (period through January 15)
|
|
|
7.2658 |
|
|
|
7.2946 |
|
|
|
7.2345 |
|
|
|
7.2345 |
|
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York
|
|
(1) |
Annual averages are calculated using the exchange rates for the
last day of each month during the calendar year. Monthly
averages are calculated using daily exchange rates during the
month. |
47
SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA
You should read the following information with our consolidated
financial statements and related notes, and
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations included elsewhere in
this prospectus. Our consolidated financial statements are
prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
The following selected consolidated statements of operations
data for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007
(other than pro forma (loss) earnings per common share and
ADS data), and the selected consolidated balance sheets data as
of March 31, 2006 and 2007, are derived from our audited
consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this
prospectus and should be read in conjunction with, and are
qualified in their entirety by reference to, these consolidated
financial statements and related notes. Our selected
consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended
December 31, 2002, 2003 and 2004 (other than ADS data)
and the selected consolidated balance sheets data as of
December 31, 2002, 2003 and 2004 are derived from our
audited consolidated financial statements, which are not
included in this prospectus. Our previously issued consolidated
financial statements for the years ended and as of
December 31, 2003 and 2004 have been restated. Our selected
consolidated statements of operations data for the three months
ended March 31, 2005 (other than ADS data) and the selected
consolidated balance sheets data as of March 31, 2005 are
derived from our unaudited consolidated financial statements,
which are not included in this prospectus.
The selected consolidated statements of operations data for the
six months ended September 30, 2006 and 2007 and the
selected consolidated balance sheets data as of
September 30, 2007 are derived from our unaudited condensed
consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this
prospectus. We have prepared our unaudited condensed
consolidated financial statements on the same basis as our
audited consolidated financial statements. The unaudited
financial information includes all adjustments, consisting only
of normal and recurring adjustments, that we consider necessary
for a fair presentation of our financial position and operating
results for the periods presented. The unaudited results for the
six months ended September 30, 2007 may not be indicative
of our results for the full year ending March 31, 2008.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Three |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Months Ended |
|
|
For the Year Ended |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended |
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
|
|
2003 |
|
|
2004 |
|
|
2005 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
(Restated)(1) |
|
|
(Restated)(1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for per share and per ADS data) |
|
Selected Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net Revenues
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Testing services
|
|
|
7,746 |
|
|
|
9,975 |
|
|
|
17,351 |
|
|
|
1,977 |
|
|
|
18,170 |
|
|
|
24,628 |
|
|
|
10,622 |
|
|
|
29,472 |
|
|
|
3,933 |
|
|
Test-based educational services
|
|
|
354 |
|
|
|
5,489 |
|
|
|
18,369 |
|
|
|
6,684 |
|
|
|
35,138 |
|
|
|
42,804 |
|
|
|
18,749 |
|
|
|
20,891 |
|
|
|
2,788 |
|
|
Test preparation solutions
|
|
|
134 |
|
|
|
82 |
|
|
|
407 |
|
|
|
17 |
|
|
|
340 |
|
|
|
10,076 |
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
21,632 |
|
|
|
2,887 |
|
|
Other(2)
|
|
|
5,260 |
|
|
|
7,073 |
|
|
|
8,394 |
|
|
|
1,780 |
|
|
|
15,389 |
|
|
|
7,373 |
|
|
|
2,992 |
|
|
|
4,253 |
|
|
|
568 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total net revenues
|
|
|
13,494 |
|
|
|
22,619 |
|
|
|
44,521 |
|
|
|
10,458 |
|
|
|
69,037 |
|
|
|
84,881 |
|
|
|
32,368 |
|
|
|
76,248 |
|
|
|
10,176 |
|
Gross profit
|
|
|
1,717 |
|
|
|
8,829 |
|
|
|
21,388 |
|
|
|
3,527 |
|
|
|
35,049 |
|
|
|
43,779 |
|
|
|
13,618 |
|
|
|
43,471 |
|
|
|
5,802 |
|
Total operating expenses
|
|
|
21,023 |
|
|
|
26,762 |
|
|
|
24,967 |
|
|
|
13,266 |
|
|
|
36,140 |
|
|
|
63,375 |
|
|
|
27,177 |
|
|
|
34,735 |
|
|
|
4,636 |
|
(Loss) income from
operations(3)
|
|
|
(19,306 |
) |
|
|
(17,933 |
) |
|
|
(3,579 |
) |
|
|
(9,739 |
) |
|
|
(1,091 |
) |
|
|
(19,596 |
) |
|
|
(13,559 |
) |
|
|
8,736 |
|
|
|
1,166 |
|
Interest
expense(4)
|
|
|
(2,729 |
) |
|
|
(9,093 |
) |
|
|
(9,690 |
) |
|
|
(1,143 |
) |
|
|
(22,713 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign currency exchange losses, net
|
|
|
(1 |
) |
|
|
(2 |
) |
|
|
(2 |
) |
|
|
(66 |
) |
|
|
(1,050 |
) |
|
|
(909 |
) |
|
|
(519 |
) |
|
|
(186 |
) |
|
|
(25 |
) |
Net (loss) income
|
|
|
(25,681 |
) |
|
|
(26,874 |
) |
|
|
(12,198 |
) |
|
|
(8,683 |
) |
|
|
(24,809 |
) |
|
|
(16,790 |
) |
|
|
(11,857 |
) |
|
|
8,530 |
|
|
|
1,138 |
|
48
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Three |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Months Ended |
|
|
For the Year Ended |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended |
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
|
|
2003 |
|
|
2004 |
|
|
2005 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
(Restated)(1) |
|
|
(Restated)(1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for per share and per ADS data) |
|
Accretion of Series A redeemable convertible preferred
shares to redemption value
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(13,889 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign currency exchange translation adjustment on
Series A redeemable convertible preferred shares
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3,269 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net (loss) income (applicable) available to common
shareholders(5)
|
|
|
(25,681 |
) |
|
|
(26,874 |
) |
|
|
(12,198 |
) |
|
|
(8,683 |
) |
|
|
(35,429 |
) |
|
|
(16,790 |
) |
|
|
(11,857 |
) |
|
|
8,530 |
|
|
|
1,138 |
|
Basic (loss) earnings per common
share(5)
|
|
|
(1.28 |
) |
|
|
(1.34 |
) |
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
|
|
(0.50 |
) |
|
|
(2.16 |
) |
|
|
(0.82 |
) |
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
|
|
0.39 |
|
|
|
0.05 |
|
Diluted (loss) earnings per common
share(5)
|
|
|
(1.28 |
) |
|
|
(1.34 |
) |
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
|
|
(0.50 |
) |
|
|
(2.16 |
) |
|
|
(0.82 |
) |
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
|
|
0.23 |
|
|
|
0.03 |
|
Pro forma basic (loss) earnings per common share
(6)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(0.52 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.25 |
|
|
|
0.03 |
|
Pro forma diluted (loss) earnings per common share
(6)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(0.52 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.23 |
|
|
|
0.03 |
|
Basic (loss) earnings per
ADS(7)
|
|
|
(2.56 |
) |
|
|
(2.68 |
) |
|
|
(1.22 |
) |
|
|
(1.00 |
) |
|
|
(4.32 |
) |
|
|
(1.64 |
) |
|
|
(1.22 |
) |
|
|
0.78 |
|
|
|
0.10 |
|
Diluted (loss) earnings per
ADS(7)
|
|
|
(2.56 |
) |
|
|
(2.68 |
) |
|
|
(1.22 |
) |
|
|
(1.00 |
) |
|
|
(4.32 |
) |
|
|
(1.64 |
) |
|
|
(1.22 |
) |
|
|
0.46 |
|
|
|
0.06 |
|
Pro forma basic (loss) earnings per
ADS(6)(7)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1.04 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.50 |
|
|
|
0.06 |
|
Pro forma diluted (loss) earnings per
ADS(6)(7)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1.04 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.46 |
|
|
|
0.06 |
|
49
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of December 31, |
|
|
As of March 31, |
|
|
As of September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
|
|
2003 |
|
|
2004 |
|
|
2005 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
(Restated)(1) |
|
|
(Restated)(1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
|
|
|
3,344 |
|
|
|
12,852 |
|
|
|
11,827 |
|
|
|
93,030 |
|
|
|
44,624 |
|
|
|
45,019 |
|
|
|
52,567 |
|
|
|
7,016 |
|
Accounts receivable, net
|
|
|
1,482 |
|
|
|
5,142 |
|
|
|
10,967 |
|
|
|
4,354 |
|
|
|
12,984 |
|
|
|
16,978 |
|
|
|
29,612 |
|
|
|
3,952 |
|
Due from related parties
|
|
|
295 |
|
|
|
323 |
|
|
|
21,381 |
|
|
|
23,798 |
|
|
|
4,368 |
|
|
|
20 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total current assets
|
|
|
6,631 |
|
|
|
21,614 |
|
|
|
50,189 |
|
|
|
125,881 |
|
|
|
67,989 |
|
|
|
76,656 |
|
|
|
97,744 |
|
|
|
13,045 |
|
Total assets
|
|
|
16,768 |
|
|
|
53,924 |
|
|
|
63,986 |
|
|
|
139,260 |
|
|
|
88,384 |
|
|
|
108,165 |
|
|
|
131,034 |
|
|
|
17,488 |
|
Note payable,
current(8)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17,940 |
|
|
|
18,666 |
|
|
|
19,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Due to related parties
|
|
|
9,033 |
|
|
|
50,804 |
|
|
|
54,576 |
|
|
|
46,277 |
|
|
|
1,644 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred revenues, current
|
|
|
9,109 |
|
|
|
10,640 |
|
|
|
23,288 |
|
|
|
20,564 |
|
|
|
22,340 |
|
|
|
26,341 |
|
|
|
27,177 |
|
|
|
3,627 |
|
Total current liabilities
|
|
|
25,013 |
|
|
|
74,185 |
|
|
|
113,575 |
|
|
|
112,453 |
|
|
|
53,937 |
|
|
|
45,620 |
|
|
|
59,257 |
|
|
|
7,909 |
|
Note payable,
non-current(8)
|
|
|
18,570 |
|
|
|
15,384 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred revenues, non-current
|
|
|
7,426 |
|
|
|
14,377 |
|
|
|
10,442 |
|
|
|
8,585 |
|
|
|
8,555 |
|
|
|
7,897 |
|
|
|
7,547 |
|
|
|
1,007 |
|
Total liabilities
|
|
|
51,009 |
|
|
|
103,946 |
|
|
|
124,017 |
|
|
|
121,038 |
|
|
|
62,492 |
|
|
|
53,517 |
|
|
|
66,804 |
|
|
|
8,916 |
|
Accumulated deficit
|
|
|
(45,728 |
) |
|
|
(72,602 |
) |
|
|
(84,800 |
) |
|
|
(93,483 |
) |
|
|
(118,292 |
) |
|
|
(135,082 |
) |
|
|
(126,552 |
) |
|
|
(16,890 |
) |
Total shareholders (deficit) equity
|
|
|
(34,241 |
) |
|
|
(50,022 |
) |
|
|
(60,031 |
) |
|
|
(94,444 |
) |
|
|
25,892 |
|
|
|
54,648 |
|
|
|
64,230 |
|
|
|
8,572 |
|
|
|
(1) |
During the course of preparing our consolidated financial
statements for the years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007, we
discovered that in certain cases prior to December 31,
2005, we recognized revenue prior to obtaining signed contracts
from our customers. Consequently, because we did not have proper
evidence of an arrangement at the time we recognized such
revenue, our previously-issued consolidated financial statements
for the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2004 have been
restated to correct the errors in revenue recognition and,
depending on the billing and customer payment status,
corresponding corrections were made to accounts receivable,
prepaid business tax (included in total current assets),
deferred revenues and current taxes payable (included in total
current liabilities). The following table summarizes the effects
of the restatements on our selected consolidated operations data
and consolidated balance sheet data as of and for the years
ended December 31, 2003 and 2004. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2003 |
|
|
2004 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As |
|
|
|
|
As |
|
|
|
|
|
Previously |
|
|
|
|
As |
|
|
Previously |
|
|
|
|
As |
|
|
|
Reported |
|
|
Adjustments |
|
|
Restated |
|
|
Reported |
|
|
Adjustments |
|
|
Restated |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
Consolidated statements of operations data
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net revenues
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Test-based educational services
|
|
|
5,849 |
|
|
|
(360 |
) |
|
|
5,489 |
|
|
|
18,000 |
|
|
|
369 |
|
|
|
18,369 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total net revenue
|
|
|
22,979 |
|
|
|
(360 |
) |
|
|
22,619 |
|
|
|
44,152 |
|
|
|
369 |
|
|
|
44,521 |
|
Gross profit
|
|
|
9,190 |
|
|
|
(360 |
) |
|
|
8,829 |
|
|
|
21,019 |
|
|
|
369 |
|
|
|
21,388 |
|
Loss from operations
|
|
|
(17,573 |
) |
|
|
(360 |
) |
|
|
(17,933 |
) |
|
|
(3,948 |
) |
|
|
369 |
|
|
|
(3,579 |
) |
Net loss
|
|
|
(26,514 |
) |
|
|
(360 |
) |
|
|
(26,874 |
) |
|
|
(12,567 |
) |
|
|
369 |
|
|
|
(12,198 |
) |
Net loss applicable to to common Shareholders
|
|
|
(26,514 |
) |
|
|
(360 |
) |
|
|
(26,874 |
) |
|
|
(12,567 |
) |
|
|
369 |
|
|
|
(12,198 |
) |
Basic loss per common share
|
|
|
(1.32 |
) |
|
|
(0.02 |
) |
|
|
(1.34 |
) |
|
|
(0.63 |
) |
|
|
0.02 |
|
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
Diluted loss per common share
|
|
|
(1.32 |
) |
|
|
(0.02 |
) |
|
|
(1.34 |
) |
|
|
(0.63 |
) |
|
|
0.02 |
|
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
50
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of December 31, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2003 |
|
|
2004 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As |
|
|
|
|
As |
|
|
|
|
|
Previously |
|
|
|
|
As |
|
|
Previously |
|
|
|
|
As |
|
|
|
Reported |
|
|
Adjustments |
|
|
Restated |
|
|
Reported |
|
|
Adjustments |
|
|
Restated |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
Consolidated balance sheet data
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accounts receivable, net
|
|
|
5,282 |
|
|
|
(140 |
) |
|
|
5,142 |
|
|
|
12,022 |
|
|
|
(1,055 |
) |
|
|
10,967 |
|
Total current assets
|
|
|
21,725 |
|
|
|
(110 |
) |
|
|
21,614 |
|
|
|
51,197 |
|
|
|
(1,008 |
) |
|
|
50,189 |
|
Total assets
|
|
|
54,034 |
|
|
|
(110 |
) |
|
|
53,924 |
|
|
|
64,994 |
|
|
|
(1,008 |
) |
|
|
63,986 |
|
Deferred revenue, current
|
|
|
10,394 |
|
|
|
246 |
|
|
|
10,640 |
|
|
|
24,399 |
|
|
|
(1,111 |
) |
|
|
23,288 |
|
Total current liabilities
|
|
|
73,915 |
|
|
|
270 |
|
|
|
74,185 |
|
|
|
114,573 |
|
|
|
(997 |
) |
|
|
113,575 |
|
Total liabilities
|
|
|
103,676 |
|
|
|
270 |
|
|
|
103,946 |
|
|
|
125,014 |
|
|
|
(997 |
) |
|
|
124,017 |
|
Accumulated deficit
|
|
|
(72,222 |
) |
|
|
(380 |
) |
|
|
(72,602 |
) |
|
|
(84,789 |
) |
|
|
(11 |
) |
|
|
(84,800 |
) |
Total shareholders deficit
|
|
|
(49,642 |
) |
|
|
(380 |
) |
|
|
(50,022 |
) |
|
|
(60,020 |
) |
|
|
(11 |
) |
|
|
(60,031 |
) |
As a result of the correction of the error, accumulated deficit
as of January 1, 2003 decreased from RMB45,708,000 to
RMB45,728,000. |
|
|
(2) |
In March 2002, our subsidiary ATA Testing entered into an
agreement with ATA Jiangsu to assign ATA Testings rights
and interests in a number of test delivery service contracts to
ATA Jiangsu. ATA Testing collected a RMB6.5 million payment
under this agreement in the year ended December 31, 2002.
We initially anticipated that the test delivery service
contracts would generate revenues and ATA Testing would provide
ancillary services under the agreement for a period of ten
years. We therefore deferred the recognition of revenue upon
receipt of the payment, and began to recognize the payment into
income over a ten year period for the years ended
December 31, 2002, 2003 and 2004. However, on
December 27, 2005, the board of directors of ATA Jiangsu
resolved to commence a voluntary winding up of ATA Jiangsu. As a
result, we recognized the remaining deferred revenue of
RMB3.9 million into income in December 2005. |
|
(3) |
Includes non-cash share-based compensation expenses of nil,
RMB1.3 million, RMB1.1 million, RMB6.4 million,
RMB4.2 million, RMB2.5 million, RMB1.2 million
and RMB1.1 million ($0.1 million) for the years ended
December 31, 2002, 2003 and 2004, the three months ended
March 31, 2005, the fiscal years ended March 31, 2006
and 2007 and the six months ended September 30, 2006 and
2007, respectively. Our non-cash share-based compensation
expense for the three months ended March 31, 2005 includes
an expense of RMB6.3 million resulting from the issuance of
853,941 of our common shares to Kevin Xiaofeng Ma, our
co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, to reward his
past performance. |
|
(4) |
Includes interest expense and loan discount charged for the
years ended December 31, 2002, 2003 and 2004, the three
months ended March 31, 2005 and the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006 of RMB2.7 million, RMB3.0 million,
RMB2.6 million, RMB0.7 million and
RMB22.7 million, respectively, in connection with a
RMB19.0 million loan from a third party that was repaid in
full on May 19, 2006. Also includes earnings attributable
and payable to an investor of ATA Learning of
RMB6.1 million and RMB7.1 million for the years ended
December 31, 2003 and 2004, respectively. |
|
(5) |
Our PRC subsidiaries, ATA Testing and ATA Learning, enjoy tax
holidays provided by local and national PRC tax authorities. See
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations Taxation.
If our PRC subsidiaries had not enjoyed these tax holidays they
would have had a preferential enterprise income tax rate of 15%.
The following table shows the effects of the tax holidays for
the periods indicated: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Months |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ended |
|
|
For the Year |
|
|
For the Six Months |
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
Ended March 31, |
|
|
Ended September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
|
|
2003 |
|
|
2004 |
|
|
2005 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
(Restated) |
|
|
(Restated) |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for per share) |
|
Effect on net (loss) income (applicable) available to common
shareholders
|
|
|
1.260 |
|
|
|
399 |
|
|
|
(19 |
) |
|
|
90 |
|
|
|
(544 |
) |
|
|
155 |
|
|
|
183 |
|
|
|
231 |
|
|
|
31 |
|
Effect on basic (loss) earnings per common share
|
|
|
0.063 |
|
|
|
0.020 |
|
|
|
(0.001 |
) |
|
|
0.005 |
|
|
|
(0.033 |
) |
|
|
0.008 |
|
|
|
0.009 |
|
|
|
0.011 |
|
|
|
0.001 |
|
Effect on diluted (loss) earnings per common share
|
|
|
0.063 |
|
|
|
0.020 |
|
|
|
(0.001 |
) |
|
|
0.005 |
|
|
|
(0.033 |
) |
|
|
0.008 |
|
|
|
0.009 |
|
|
|
0.006 |
|
|
|
0.001 |
|
|
|
(6) |
Gives effect to the full conversion of preferred shares into
11,730,554 of our common shares, as if the conversion had taken
place on April 1, 2006. |
|
|
(7) |
Each ADS represents two common shares. |
|
|
|
(8) |
Note payable to a third party was repaid in full on May 19,
2006 |
|
51
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Months |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ended |
|
|
For the Year Ended |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended |
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002 |
|
|
2003 |
|
|
2004 |
|
|
2005 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Restated) |
|
|
(Restated) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Key Operating Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Testing services:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of tests
delivered(1)
|
|
|
848,840 |
|
|
|
1,399,170 |
|
|
|
1,851,476 |
|
|
|
245,012 |
|
|
|
2,583,712 |
|
|
|
3,335,701 |
|
|
|
2,004,640 |
|
|
|
2,065,249 |
|
Test-based educational services:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of degree major course programs offered
|
|
|
6 |
|
|
|
13 |
|
|
|
25 |
|
|
|
23 |
|
|
|
36 |
|
|
|
74 |
|
|
|
74 |
|
|
|
74 |
|
|
Number of schools offering degree major course programs
|
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
41 |
|
|
|
85 |
|
|
|
82 |
|
|
|
117 |
|
|
|
137 |
|
|
|
128 |
|
|
|
135 |
|
|
Degree major
student-months(2)
|
|
|
4,520 |
|
|
|
52,348 |
|
|
|
181,072 |
|
|
|
75,978 |
|
|
|
401,415 |
|
|
|
465,856 |
|
|
|
215,650 |
|
|
|
198,178 |
|
|
Number of single course programs offered
|
|
|
19 |
|
|
|
24 |
|
|
|
43 |
|
|
|
42 |
|
|
|
58 |
|
|
|
73 |
|
|
|
58 |
|
|
|
49 |
|
|
Number of schools offering single course programs
|
|
|
30 |
|
|
|
89 |
|
|
|
136 |
|
|
|
86 |
|
|
|
129 |
|
|
|
132 |
|
|
|
119 |
|
|
|
118 |
|
|
Single course
student-months(3)
|
|
|
846 |
|
|
|
34,005 |
|
|
|
71,355 |
|
|
|
29,371 |
|
|
|
107,891 |
|
|
|
133,562 |
|
|
|
68,740 |
|
|
|
101,603 |
|
Test preparation solutions:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of copies of NTET software sold
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11,022 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
19,514 |
|
|
|
(1) |
Includes tests delivered through our test delivery platform and
tests using our Dynamic Simulation Technology. |
|
(2) |
Degree major student-months are calculated by
(i) multiplying the number of students in each degree major
by the number of months of that degree major course program in
the relevant period and then (ii) aggregating the number of
student-months for all of our degree major course programs
during the period. |
|
(3) |
Single course student-months are calculated by
(i) multiplying the number of students in each single
course program by the number of months of that single course
program in the relevant period and then (ii) aggregating
the number of student-months for all of our single course
programs during the period. |
52
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
The following is an estimate of certain unaudited selected
consolidated financial data for the three months ended
December 31, 2007. Because our financial statements for the
three months ended December 31, 2007 have not been
finalized and are subject to completion of our normal
quarter-end closing procedures, the unaudited selected
consolidated financial data for the three months ended
December 31, 2007 set forth below may be subject to change.
We estimate:
|
|
|
|
|
total net revenues were between RMB63.0 million
($8.4 million) and RMB67.5 million
($9.0 million), compared to RMB36.3 million for the
three months ended December 31, 2006; |
|
|
|
gross profit was between RMB42.8 million
($5.7 million) and RMB46.0 million
($6.1 million), compared to RMB25.9 million for the
three months ended December 31, 2006; |
|
|
|
income from operations was between RMB14.8 million
($2.0 million) and RMB16.0 million
($2.1 million), compared to RMB6.6 million for the
three months ended December 31, 2006; and |
|
|
|
net income was between RMB10.6 million ($1.4 million)
and RMB12.0 million ($1.6 million), compared to
RMB6.9 million for the three months ended December 31,
2006. |
We estimate that our total net revenues, gross profit, income
from operations and net income for the three months ended
December 31, 2007 reached their highest quarterly levels in
our operating history, primarily due to a large increase in net
revenues from testing services, which we estimate were between
RMB34.8 million ($4.6 million) and
RMB37.3 million ($5.0 million), compared to
RMB10.9 million for the three months ended
December 31, 2006. This increase in testing services net
revenues was driven to a large degree by significant increases
in the number of finance industry-related tests, principally
banking and securities licensure tests, that we delivered during
the three months ended December 31, 2007. The large
increase in testing services net revenues was partially offset
by slower growth in net revenues from test-based educational
services, which was primarily due to a decline in net revenues
from degree major course programs. We estimate that our cost of
revenues and operating expenses also increased significantly
during this quarter, generally in line with our revenue growth.
We estimate our cost of revenues and operating expenses included
approximately RMB9.3 million ($1.2 million) in
share-based compensation expenses, the substantial majority of
which relate to our October 2007 grant of share options to
employees.
Our preliminary consolidated financial data for the quarter
ended December 31, 2007 are subject to adjustment based
upon, among other things, completion of our reporting processes.
Actual results could differ materially from the estimates
provided above. For example, total net revenues are subject to
finalization of our determination of revenues to be recognized
in the quarter or deferred to future periods and the amount of
accrued business tax, income from operations is also subject to
finalization of our share-based compensation expenses and other
operating expenses, and net income is further subject to
finalization of our determination of income tax expense for the
quarter. For additional information regarding the various risks
and uncertainties inherent in such estimates, see Special
Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements. Financial
results for the three months ended December 31, 2007 may
not be indicative of our full year results for the fiscal year
ending March 31, 2008 or future quarterly periods. See
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations for information
regarding trends and other factors that may influence our
financial results.
Our quarterly results of operations are subject to seasonal
fluctuations. In particular, net revenues from testing services
and test preparation solutions are typically highest in the
quarter ending December 31 due to a generally higher number
of tests delivered by our clients during that quarter and lowest
in the quarter ending March 31. Principally due to this
seasonal decline in net revenues from testing services and
53
test preparation solutions, we expect our total net revenues,
gross profit, income from operations and net income to be
significantly lower during the three months ending
March 31, 2008 than they were for the three months ended
December 31, 2007. As a result, we currently estimate that
we may incur a net loss from operations and a net loss for the
three months ending March 31, 2008. In addition, we may
also incur a net loss from operations and a net loss for the
three months ending June 30, 2008 depending on whether
certain large-scale tests, such as the banking licensure test,
are scheduled in the quarter ending September 30, 2008
instead of the prior quarter.
54
MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our
financial condition and results of operations in conjunction
with the section entitled Selected Consolidated Financial
and Operating Data and our consolidated financial
statements and the related notes for the fiscal years ended
March 31, 2006 and 2007 included elsewhere in this
prospectus. Our consolidated financial statements have been
prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The discussion in
this section contains forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ
materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking
statements as a result of various factors, including those set
forth under Risk Factors and elsewhere in this
prospectus.
Overview
We are the leading provider of computer-based testing services
in China, with the largest market share, 30.9%, in terms of
revenue in 2006, according to IDC. We also provide
career-oriented test-based educational programs and test
preparation solutions. To comply with PRC law, we operate the
online portion of our test preparation solutions business
through a series of contractual arrangements with ATA Online
(Beijing) Education Technology Limited, or ATA Online, a PRC
entity owned by two of our founders and over which we do not
have direct control or direct oversight. We have experienced
significant growth in our business during the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007. Our total net revenues have increased from
RMB69.0 million for the fiscal year ended March 31,
2006 to RMB84.9 million ($11.3 million) for the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2007, and from RMB32.4 million
for the six months ended September 30, 2006 to
RMB76.2 million ($10.2 million) for the six months
ended September 30, 2007. We had net losses of
RMB24.8 million and RMB16.8 million for the fiscal
years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007, respectively, and net
income of RMB8.5 million ($1.1 million) for the six
months ended September 30, 2007.
We started our business in 1999 focusing on providing
computer-based testing services to test sponsors. Our revenues
from the licensing of testing services, which we provide to test
sponsors, have grown primarily as a result of increases in the
number of test takers who take tests created and delivered using
our testing technologies as well as our ability to secure
increasing numbers of new contracts from test sponsors for the
creation and delivery of new computer-based test titles. Testing
services revenues accounted for 32.8% and 38.7% of our total net
revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2006 and
2007, respectively. In the near term, we expect our testing
services revenues to continue to be the largest source of our
total net revenues as a result of new contracts with test
sponsors in the banking, securities and insurance sectors. Our
testing services are also important for reasons other than the
revenues they generate. The expertise we have developed in the
creation and delivery of large scale tests covering a wide
variety of test topics and industries contributes to our ability
to create and offer career-oriented course programs and test
preparation solutions.
55
The following graph shows the growth in the number of tests
delivered using our testing technologies for the twelve months
ended March 31, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
|
|
(1) |
Includes tests delivered through our
E-testing platform and
tests using our Dynamic Simulation Technology. |
Leveraging our testing expertise, in 2002 we began offering our
career-oriented course programs, which we market to Chinese
educational institutions. We develop our course programs by
integrating our testing technologies and services with IT
learning content authorized by major IT vendors. Many of our
course programs allow students to earn an IT vendor certificate
upon completion of the program and the successful passage of
related tests in addition to earning credits toward graduation.
In March 2006, we began to offer pre-occupational training
programs, which are programs with trained instructors that allow
students to obtain practical skills through exercises designed
to more closely align their skills with specific job
requirements. Licensing fees from test-based educational
services accounted for 57.9% and 27.4% of our total net revenues
for the six months ended September 30, 2006 and 2007,
respectively.
By integrating our testing technologies with targeted test
preparation content for certain professional licensure and
certification tests, in 2006 we began offering test preparation
solutions for the securities, insurance and teaching industries.
ATA Online, our affiliated PRC entity, launched online test
preparation Internet web sites in coordination with the
Securities Association of China, the China Futures Association
and the China Banking Association to help candidates across
China practice and prepare for these organizations
professional licensure and certification tests, which tests are
delivered by us through our test delivery platform. We also
offer our NTET Tutorial Platform software, which comprises a
comprehensive set of training materials to prepare teachers for
certification under the National Teachers Skill Test of
Applied Educational Technology in Secondary and Elementary
Schools, or NTET test, which is delivered nationwide through our
test delivery platform. Revenues from our test preparation
solutions increased as a percentage of our total net revenues
from 0.5% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 to 28.4%
for the six months ended September 30, 2007.
On October 15, 2007, we entered into definitive agreements
to purchase the entire equity interests of Beijing Jindixin
Software Technology Company Limited and JDX Holdings Limited,
which are related companies incorporated in China and the
British Virgin Islands, respectively, engaged in the development
and marketing of software for computer-based tests. The
aggregate cash consideration for the acquisition is
RMB10.0 million. On October 15, 2007, we made a
deposit of RMB2.0 million in the aggregate to the sellers
with the remainder of the consideration due upon closing. The
transaction is expected to close in March 2008, subject to
satisfaction of customary closing conditions. In conjunction
with the acquisition, we also issued to certain of the sellers
warrants for the purchase of an aggregate of 126,803 of our
common shares at a strike price of $5.25 per share, which
warrants are exercisable upon the closing of the transaction and
expire on April 30, 2008. On the date of issuance, the
estimated intrinsic value of the warrants granted to certain of
the sellers approximated RMB4.1 million ($0.5 million)
based on the
56
estimated fair market value of underlying shares of $9.52 (the
mid-point of the estimated range of the initial public offering
price of this offering after a discount of 9.16% to account for
inherent business risk and lack of marketability).
|
|
|
Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations
|
Some of the key factors affecting our results of operations are:
|
|
|
|
|
growth in Chinas professional services sector resulting in
increasing demand for qualified and certified talent in China; |
|
|
|
overall economic growth and rising income levels in China
contributing to increased spending on education, testing and
test preparation; |
|
|
|
government and industry initiatives to standardize and license
professionals in industries such as securities, futures,
banking, law and accounting; |
|
|
|
growth in the use of computer-based tests and performance-based
tests and willingness of test sponsors and educational program
providers to outsource test content development and delivery for
sophisticated computer-based and performance-based tests; |
|
|
|
emphasis on, and government encouragement for, career-oriented
and IT-related educational programs in China; |
|
|
|
the increasing importance of identifying qualified talent
contributing to increasing demand for testing and certification
programs that can confirm the qualifications of the applicant or
job seeker; |
|
|
|
acceptance by educational institutions of our career-oriented
and IT-related educational programs; and |
|
|
|
our introduction of new services, such as our pre-occupational
training programs launched in March 2006 and our test
preparation solutions launched in November 2006. |
Although we anticipate the above factors will continue to
increase demand for our products and services in China, a
slowing or reversal of any of the above factors could cause our
revenue growth to slow or stop, or to not grow as fast as we
might expect.
In addition, our results of operations for the fiscal years
ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 and the six months ended
September 30, 2007 have been significantly affected by the
following factors:
|
|
|
|
|
share-based compensation; |
|
|
|
the impact of certain preferential tax rates and tax holidays; |
|
|
|
valuation of tax loss carryforwards; |
|
|
|
foreign currency exchange losses; |
|
|
|
accretion of, and foreign currency exchange translation
adjustment on, our Series A redeemable convertible
preferred shares, or preferred shares, to redemption value; |
|
|
|
interest expense relating to extension of a warrant to a
third-party lender; |
|
|
|
recognition into income in the fiscal year ended March 31,
2006 of previously deferred revenue of RMB3.9 million from
ATA Jiangsu as a result of its voluntary winding up; |
|
|
|
gain on disposal of Xiamen Wendu Software Education Investment
Co. Ltd., or Wendu Education, in the amount of
RMB2.8 million, which was consummated during the six months
ended September 30, 2007; and |
|
|
|
the relative proportion of our net revenues derived from
higher-gross margin and lower-gross margin product and service
offerings. |
57
Going forward, we expect our results of operations to be
affected by the following:
|
|
|
|
|
share-based compensation; |
|
|
|
the impact of certain preferential tax rates and tax holidays; |
|
|
|
valuation of tax loss carryforwards; |
|
|
|
foreign currency exchange losses; and |
|
|
|
the relative proportion of our net revenues derived from
higher-gross margin and lower-gross margin product and service
offerings. |
Net Revenues
We derive revenues from licensing of fees for computer-based
testing services, licensing fees for test-based educational
services, sales of test preparation solutions, and other
products and services. Our net revenues are presented net of PRC
business taxes. The following table sets forth a breakdown of
our total net revenues for the periods indicated:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for percentages) |
|
Net revenues:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Testing services
|
|
|
18,170 |
|
|
|
26.3 |
% |
|
|
24,628 |
|
|
|
29.0 |
% |
|
|
10,622 |
|
|
|
32.8 |
% |
|
|
29,472 |
|
|
|
3,933 |
|
|
|
38.6 |
% |
|
Test-based educational services
|
|
|
35,138 |
|
|
|
50.9 |
% |
|
|
42,804 |
|
|
|
50.4 |
% |
|
|
18,749 |
|
|
|
57.9 |
% |
|
|
20,891 |
|
|
|
2,788 |
|
|
|
27.4 |
% |
|
Test preparation solutions
|
|
|
340 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
% |
|
|
10,076 |
|
|
|
11.9 |
% |
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
0.1 |
% |
|
|
21,632 |
|
|
|
2,887 |
|
|
|
28.4 |
% |
|
Other
|
|
|
15,389 |
|
|
|
22.3 |
% |
|
|
7,373 |
|
|
|
8.7 |
% |
|
|
2,992 |
|
|
|
9.2 |
% |
|
|
4,253 |
|
|
|
568 |
|
|
|
5.6 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total net revenues
|
|
|
69,037 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
84,881 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
32,368 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
76,248 |
|
|
|
10,176 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Testing Services
We derive testing services revenues from licensing fees charged
to test sponsors for our test delivery services and from
simulation testing technology licensing. Revenues from testing
services accounted for 26.3%, 29.0%, 32.8% and 38.7% of our
total net revenues for the fiscal years ended March 31,
2006 and 2007 and the six months ended September 30, 2006
and 2007, respectively.
Test delivery services. We generate test delivery
services revenues through licensing fees charged for providing
computer-based testing services to test sponsors such as
governmental agencies, IT vendors and other sponsors of
licensure and certification tests. We offer our clients a
comprehensive set of services for the compilation, delivery and
analysis of computer-based tests using our E-testing platform,
as well as logistical services such as test registration and fee
collection. Tests delivered through our E-testing platform may
be conducted at our ATA authorized test centers or at other
locations at the test sponsors discretion. We generate
revenues from our test delivery services through technology
licensing fees charged to test sponsors based on the total
number of test takers taking a requested test. Our clients
typically pay us within three to six months of delivery of the
test. We recognize revenue for test delivery services upon
completion of the relevant test.
We have experienced seasonality and expect in the future to
continue to experience seasonality in revenues and accounts
receivable related to our test delivery services. We typically
have higher net revenues from test delivery services in the
quarter ending December 31 than in other quarters due to a
generally higher number of tests delivered by our clients during
that quarter. Net revenues from test delivery services are
typically lowest in the quarter ending March 31. Our second
largest quarter in terms
58
of number of tests delivered may vary between the quarters
ending June 30 and September 30 depending on whether
certain large-scale tests, such as the banking licensure test,
are scheduled in one or the other quarter. Depending on when we
receive payment from our test sponsor clients, we may experience
substantial increases in our accounts receivable balance at the
end of the quarter ending December 31 of each fiscal year.
Simulation testing technology licensing. We license our
Dynamic Simulation Technology and other simulation testing
technologies to IT certification sponsors, such as Microsoft,
and international test preparation service providers. Our
technology licensing arrangements include annual license fees
and royalty fees. Annual license fees are prepaid at the end of
the quarter ending June 30 of each year, while royalty fees are
payable quarterly. We recognise revenue from royalty fees in the
quarter in which our simulation testing technology licenses are
delivered, which is evidenced by the quarterly usage reports
received from the licensees. Annual license fee revenues are
recognized over the year on a straight-line basis. We have not
experienced significant seasonality in revenues or accounts
receivable in relation to our simulation testing technology
licensing.
Significant Factors Affecting Testing Services
The most significant factor directly affecting our revenues from
licensing fees charged for our testing services are the number
of test takers. The number of test takers for a test is driven
by our ability to secure contracts with test sponsors for the
creation and delivery of computer-based test titles popular with
test takers. The volume of tests we offer is determined by the
willingness of test sponsors to use our services. We believe
test sponsors choose our services because (i) for all test
sponsors, our testing services provide a proven and
technologically advanced computer-based and performance-based
testing format that is stable, cost-effective, secure, accurate
and better able to assess the real-world, practical skills of
test takers, (ii) for government test sponsors, our testing
services allow governmental agencies to outsource the burden and
difficulty of administering large-scale tests to a third-party
service provider better equipped to handle the testing process,
and (iii) for IT vendors, our testing services help
perpetuate the market prevalence of their products and
technologies and help identify technical talent from across
China. Our revenues from licensing fees charged for our testing
services revenues are also affected by the price we can charge
per test, which generally remains fairly stable once we are
engaged by a test sponsor to help deliver a particular test.
Demand and pricing for a test is affected by whether a certain
profession, career or job position for which the certification,
licensure or qualification test is being given is considered
desirable by potential test takers. Some industries may
experience fluctuations in the numbers of people attempting to
become qualified to participate in the industry, depending on
the overall health of the relevant industry, changes in average
salary levels in the relevant industry, the popularity of
certain types of careers and employers, governmental policies
that impact the relevant industry, or other factors. Tests that
test proficiency in specific IT-related skill sets are
particularly sensitive to changes in or the obsolescence of the
relevant technologies.
In addition, obtaining contracts from test sponsors for new test
titles and for upgrading existing test titles often requires us
to expend considerable time and resources. Many of our clients
administer tests to a large number of people on a regular basis,
and maintaining consistency and stability from year to year in
the test delivery format is important to them. The decision
process involved in adopting a new type of test or a new test
delivery format can be difficult and complex. These factors
often result in significant delays in our ability to secure
contracts, which can make it difficult for us to predict our
revenues from licensing fees from test sponsors in any given
year. On the other hand, for test sponsors that administer many
tests on a regular basis, our ability to secure an initial
contract and to effectively meet their test delivery
requirements under the contract can help us obtain future test
title contracts from that test sponsor, which enables us to
increase and diversify our revenues and to hinder the ability of
competitors to secure contracts with the test sponsor. In
addition, our ability to license our simulation technology to
leading IT vendors and other clients that require cutting-edge
computer-based simulation testing technologies depends largely
on our ability to maintain and extend our technology leadership
in this area.
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In this regard, our revenues from licensing fees from test
sponsors may be negatively affected if Microsoft exercises its
contractual option to purchase the source code of our Dynamic
Simulation Technology. See Risk Factors Risks
Relating to Our Business If Microsoft exercises its
contractual option to acquire the source code of our Dynamic
Simulation Technology, or DST, Microsoft or a company to which
Microsoft licenses or sells such technology may be able to more
effectively compete with us. We have not received any
indication from Microsoft that it intends to exercise this
purchase option.
Finally, our ability to roll out the delivery of new tests,
particularly large-scale tests delivered nationwide through our
network of ATA authorized test centers, can be complicated and
time consuming, which may delay our ability to generate revenues
under some of our contracts for delivery of tests that have not
been delivered previously.
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Test-Based Educational Services
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We receive licensing fees from test-based educational services
charged to educational institutions for our degree major course
programs, single course programs and pre-occupational training
programs. Revenues from these licensing fees accounted for
50.9%, 50.4%, 57.9% and 27.4% of our total net revenues for the
fiscal years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 and the six
months ended September 30, 2006 and 2007, respectively.
Degree major course programs. Our degree major course
programs are comprised of a series of individual course programs
designed to help students acquire a cluster of skill sets that
can best prepare them for specific job types and careers, and,
in some cases, allow them to acquire certifications from
well-known IT vendors. Our degree major course programs are
designed to be completed within one to five years, with the
majority being completed in two to three years. Our course
content and related tests for each course in the degree major
course program integrate our computer-based simulation and other
testing technologies with IT learning content and certifications
authorized by the IT vendors. Revenues from our degree major
course program offerings accounted for 49.2% and 20.3%,
respectively, of our total net revenues, and 84.9% and 73.9%,
respectively, of our test-based educational services net
revenues, in the six months ended September 30, 2006 and
2007. We expect our degree major course programs to continue to
contribute a substantial majority of our revenues from licensing
fees from test-based educational services as these programs
become more popular with educational institutions across China.
We generate revenues from our degree major course programs
through licensing fees charged to educational institutions. Our
licensing fees are charged per student per year and are agreed
upon prior to delivery of any course or test materials. Our fee
is payable shortly after confirmation by the educational
institution of the number of students enrolled in each degree
major course program near the beginning of each school year. For
first-year courses, confirmation of the number of students
enrolled in each degree major course program usually occurs one
to two months into the school year because a small percentage of
first-year students change their degree major in the first
couple months after commencement of the school year. Therefore,
billing and payment collection for our first-year courses often
does not occur until later in the school year. The fees are not
refundable if the student fails to complete one or more of the
courses or the entire degree major course program or fails any
of the tests. We charge schools based on our perceived market
value of both the individual certifications to be awarded at the
completion of each course and the overall degree to be awarded
to the student at the completion of the degree major course
program.
Revenues from our degree major course programs may fluctuate
because revenues from the final year of the degree major course
program are recognized over a
ten-month period
(generally September through June) while revenues from the first
through the next-to-last years of the program are recognized
over a 12-month period
(generally September through August). In the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007, we experienced lower revenues from these
programs in the quarter ended September 30, 2006 as final
year students comprise a material amount of the revenue
contributing student population and we do not recognize revenues
in July and August for these students. We expect this seasonal
fluctuation to continue while the magnitude of the fluctuation
depends on the proportion of students in early years of the
programs as compared to students in the latter years of the
program.
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We also expect some seasonality in our billing and accounts
receivable related to degree major course programs. Our
contractual right to collect from our clients typically falls
around the months of October to November when the number of
enrolled students is confirmed. A large portion of our clients
settle payment with us two to three months after that time,
around the months of December and January. Depending on the mix
of clients that pay us in December or January each year, we may
experience fluctuations in our accounts receivable balance and
cash booked. As a result, our accounts receivable have
historically been highest at the end of the quarter ending
December 31 of each fiscal year.
Single course programs. Our single course programs
typically center around a specific type of computer software
application or other technology that requires significant
training and practice to master and for which certification is
offered. Our single course programs integrate our testing
technologies and services with IT learning content and
certifications authorized by well-known IT vendors. Chinese
universities, vocational colleges and other educational
institutions offer these course programs to non-IT major
students as elective courses. In order to receive certification
from IT vendors, students must pass a computer-based test
administered at the end of the single course program. Revenues
from our single course program offerings accounted for 7.7% and
5.3%, respectively, of our total net revenues, and 13.2% and
19.5%, respectively, of our test-based educational services net
revenues, for the six months ended September 30, 2006 and
2007.
We generate revenues from our single course programs through
licensing fees charged to educational institutions. We charge
licensing fees for our single course programs based on a
pre-agreed fee per student taking each course. A portion of the
per-student fee, generally 30% to 50% of the total, is due prior
to delivery of the course materials at the beginning of the
course period based on the number of students who enroll in the
course. The remainder of the per-student fee is due prior to
delivery of the final test and is based on the number of
students taking the final test. We charge schools based on our
perceived market value of the certification to be awarded to the
student at the completion of the course.
Our contracts for single course programs entered into prior to
January 2006 were silent as to the term or period that we are
required to provide services. Beginning in January 2006, we have
revised the standard terms of our single course program
contracts to stipulate that we have no obligations to provide
future services after a definitive term even if the course has
not been completed. We are also in the process of amending or
replacing our single course program contracts entered into prior
to January 2006 to stipulate that we have no obligations to
provide future services after six or 12 months from the
commencement of our services. As of September 30, 2007,
approximately 20% of our effective single course program
contracts entered into prior to January 2006 have been amended
to include the contractual term of service period. Upon
commencement of a single course program that does not have a
definitive term, we estimate, based on our historical
experience, the percentage of contracts that will be completed
within 12 months, and recognize revenue for such contracts
on a straight-line basis over a period of five months, which is
the expected service period based on historical averages. For
the percentage of contracts that are not expected to be
completed within 12 months, we do not recognize revenue
until the course is completed or we otherwise obtain
confirmation from the educational institution that we no longer
have any future obligations.
For all single course programs that have a definitive term of
service period, we recognize revenue on a straight-line basis
over the service period or the contractual period, whichever is
longer.
At the end of each reporting period upon the closing of our
financial records, we compare the revenue recognized at the
onset of the contracts to the actual completion status of each
contract, on a contract by contract basis, and make any revenue
adjustments to reflect the actual completion status of the
contracts. Given that substantially all course programs are
delivered during a school year, which spans from September of
each year to June of the following year, we will experience a
substantial decrease in single course program revenues for the
months of July and August each year. We do not expect
significant accounts receivable from our single course program
clients due to the fact that we bill and receive cash prior to
delivery of a large portion of the relevant services.
61
Pre-occupational training programs. Our pre-occupational
training programs provide trained instructors to teach students
practical skills through exercises designed to more closely
align their skills with specific job requirements. We generate
revenues by licensing our pre-occupational training programs to
educational institutions and from fees charged to educational
institutions for arranging deployment of training instructors.
We currently run two models for our pre-occupational training
programs: the co-operated model and the self-operated model.
Under the co-operated model, we provide pre-occupational
training personnel and programs, while the educational
institutions provide the facilities, equipment and operational
staff and are responsible for student in-take. We charge either
on a consumption basis by referencing the number of enrolled
students or by course hours consumed over the typical training
period of two to three months or on a license basis by
referencing the number of licenses purchased per year, which is
determined by the number of courses that comprise the training
program and working units in the training center. Alternatively,
we also receive instructor deployment revenue based on the
length of the program if a client requires us to deploy training
instructors. Under the self-operated model, the training center
is invested and operated by us. Participating schools send
students to our training facilities and we collect fees based on
the number of class units taken over the typical training period
of two to three months.
We recognize revenue from licensing our pre-occupational
training programs over the service delivery period on a
straight-line basis, either over the typical training period of
two to three months, or if the license fee charged is on a
per-year basis, over the 12-month period from the commencement
date. We typically collect cash either in full prior to delivery
of the service, or 50% at the time when the service is first
delivered and 50% just prior to completion of services.
Instructor deployment revenue is collected prior to instructor
deployment, and is recognized on straight-line basis over the
service delivery period. Revenues from our pre-occupational
training program offerings accounted for 1.1% and 1.8%,
respectively, of our total net revenues, and 1.9% and 6.6%,
respectively, of our test-based educational services net
revenues, in the six months ended September 30, 2006 and
2007.
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Significant Factors Affecting Test-Based Educational
Services
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We use the concept of student-months to track growth
in our test-based educational services revenues from licensing
fees charged to educational institutions for our degree major
course programs, single course programs and pre-occupational
training programs. Degree major student-months are calculated by
first multiplying the number of students in each degree major by
the number of months of that degree major course program in the
relevant period and then adding the resulting numbers for all of
our degree major course programs together to reach an aggregate
degree major student-months figure for the period. Single course
student-months are calculated by first multiplying the number of
students in each single course program by the number of months
of that single course program in the relevant period and then
adding the resulting numbers for all of our single course
programs together to reach an aggregate single course
student-months figure for the period.
A number of factors affect our degree major, single course and
pre-occupational training student-months, as follows:
Our ability to add schools that offer our course
programs. Our ability to increase student-months and grow
revenues from licensing fees from test-based educational
services depends on our ability to continue to add new
educational institutions to our client list, expand our program
offerings from existing and new IT vendors, expand program
offerings to subjects outside of the IT sector and maintain our
relationships with our existing educational institution clients.
As schools continue to offer our programs to enable students to
obtain vocational skills, our number of student-months and our
revenues from licensing fees from educational institutions will
increase. Schools in China are required by national policy
initiatives to provide more career-oriented courses and
practical skills training to assist students entering the IT
industry. In addition, we believe employers and industry
associations in China are increasingly requiring job applicants
and industry participants to obtain professional certifications
and licenses to qualify for increasing numbers of positions in
various industries.
62
Our experience has been that schools typically take a
conservative and incremental approach to new technologies and
teaching methods, preferring to start small with the adoption of
two or three degree major course programs to allow teachers to
be properly trained to administer the courses and to test the
receptiveness of students to the courses. In addition,
educational institutions generally make purchasing decisions for
our course programs during the latter part of the school year,
typically from April to July of each year, to allow sufficient
time for integration of the course programs into their school
curriculum, training of teachers, and marketing of the new
course program offerings to returning and incoming new students,
prior to the beginning of the new school year each fall. If
there is a significant delay by a school in making the decision
to integrate our course programs, and such decision is not made
by August, our course program revenues from that school will
likely be delayed for a year or more, which can make it
difficult for us to predict these revenues in any given year.
Once a school decides to adopt one or more of our course
programs, our revenues are further affected by our ability to
roll out these programs in the school in a timely manner. Each
roll-out involves several important steps, including assessing
and improving the educational institutions infrastructure
to ensure that it can support our computer-based testing and
course materials and training a sufficient number of teachers to
be able to offer the course programs. For our most basic single
course programs, this process can usually be completed in a
matter of days, but for more complicated course programs and for
degree major course programs, it can take several months or more
before the programs will be ready for introduction into the
schools curriculum.
Our ability to add new course programs to existing
educational institution clients. Because of the nature of
school enrollment generally, we often generate revenues quickly
in the first several years following introduction of our single
course and degree major course programs in a particular
educational institution. For example, if we offer a three-year
degree program, we may experience fast initial growth in the
number of students in the first year, second year and third year
the educational institution offers the program as we move from
offering the program to one class year to offering it to
students in all three class years. However, starting in the
fourth year after the initial introduction of the program in the
schools curriculum, we may experience a leveling off, or
decline, in the number of students enrolled in the course as new
first-year student enrollments will be offset by graduated
students. Thus, our ability to continue introducing new course
programs to existing educational institution clients is a
significant factor in driving revenue growth from each
individual educational institution.
Our ability to secure rights from IT vendors. Our degree
major and single course programs are more attractive if they
offer skills or certifications from well-known international and
domestic IT vendors. We believe that such IT vendors typically
offer certification programs for skills that are readily
marketable, which provides students that acquire such skills and
certifications with advantages in the job market. As a result,
we are able to charge educational institutions higher licensing
fees per student for course content and certifications provided
by well-known IT vendors.
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Test Preparation Solutions
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We derive test preparation solutions revenues from the sale of
teacher training software products and online test preparation
services. We historically also generated some revenues from
sales of software to schools to conduct computer-based exercises
and tests. Test preparation solutions accounted for 0.5%, 11.9%,
0.1% and 28.4% of our total net revenues for the fiscal years
ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 and the six months ended
September 30, 2006 and 2007, respectively.
NTET Tutorial Platform. We offer, through independent
sales agents, our NTET Tutorial Platform software, which
comprises a comprehensive set of training materials for
preparing teachers for certification under the NTET test. We
began offering our NTET Tutorial Platform in November 2006. We
sell all title and distribution rights to the distributor upon
delivery. We do not provide upgrades or any additional
post-contract services, which are the responsibility of the
sales agents who sell or otherwise dispose of our NTET Tutorial
Platform. We recognize this revenue upon delivery of the
software and once collectibility is reasonably assured. We
expect seasonal fluctuations in the sales of these software
products
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because we typically negotiate with our independent sales agents
the right to distribute our software on a provincial basis in
the quarters ending March 31 and June 30 of each fiscal year.
Sales of our NTET Tutorial Platform accounted for 92.5% of our
test preparation solutions revenues in the six months ended
September 30, 2007.
Online test preparation services. ATA Online provides
online test preparation for professional licensure and
certification tests delivered through our testing platform for
the Securities Association of China, the China Futures
Association and the China Banking Association. Revenues from
online test preparation services are generated by selling online
point cards to end users directly or through distributors on a
consignment basis. The online point cards entitle end users to
unlimited use of online mock testing during a specified service
period, which normally ranges from 90 to 180 days from the
activation of the online point cards. Sales proceeds from the
online point cards, net of the discounts granted to
distributors, are recognized on a straight-line basis ratably
over the service period commencing at the point of time the card
is activated as online test preparation service fees. If the
cards sold to end users are not activated before the expiration
date, all online service fees received will be recognized on the
expiration date. ATA Online is not contractually obligated to
accept, nor has it historically accepted, returns from end users.
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Significant Factors Affecting Test Preparation
Solutions
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A number of factors affect our revenues from test preparation
solutions. One of the most important of these is our ability to
grow the number of test titles we deliver through our test
delivery platform. Because we only offer test preparation
solutions for tests that are delivered through our test delivery
platform, the number of test titles we deliver through our test
delivery platform directly impacts the potential number of tests
for which we can offer test preparation solutions. However, the
demand for test preparation solutions is not the same for all
tests. Demand for test preparation solutions for a particular
test depends on the relative level of importance or difficulty
of the test, with greater demand for test preparation solutions
for more important and more difficult tests. Therefore, our
ability to secure test delivery services contracts for more
important and more difficult tests may affect our test
preparation solutions business. Our ability to grow our test
preparation solutions business is also affected by the
willingness of our test sponsor clients to permit us to provide
test preparation solutions for their tests. Some test sponsor
clients may not permit us to provide test preparation solutions
in relation to tests for which we provide test delivery and
other services due to a perceived conflict of interest. In
addition, because we generally do not develop the learning
content used in our test preparation solutions, our ability to
license test preparation learning content and materials from the
relevant test sponsor or third party content provider is
critical to the expansion of the number of tests for which we
offer test preparation solutions.
In addition, our revenues from existing test preparation
solutions depend on the number of users of our test preparation
solutions and the price we can charge for them. These in turn
depend on a number of factors, including whether test takers are
aware of our test preparation solutions and the timing of the
test being delivered. We market our current test preparation
solutions through either distributors or the test sponsor and
the number of test preparation solutions users depends on the
effectiveness of these marketing channels.
We derive other revenues from licensing fees paid to us by
operators of our ATA authorized test centers, issuance of
certificates delivered to passing candidates, test content
creation services, teacher training, sales of educational
compact discs and textbooks, sales of testing peripherals, and
other fees and services. Our other revenues accounted for 22.3%,
8.7%, 9.2% and 5.6% of our total net revenues for the fiscal
years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 and the six months
ended September 30, 2006 and 2007, respectively.
Licensing fees from ATA authorized test centers. We have
established our nationwide network of ATA authorized test
centers by contracting with qualified independent operators that
act as ATA
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authorized test centers for us. Under our contracts with test
center operators, we license our ATA name and ATA E-testing
platform technology and provide ongoing technical support,
upgrades and training during the contract period in exchange for
license fees. Each test center is obligated to provide testing
venues, computers with Internet access for use as testing
terminals, other testing equipment and test monitoring services
as specified by us. We have ongoing obligations to provide
technical support and system upgrades during the licensing
period. Although we generate a small but steady stream of
licensing revenue from test center operators, we view our
network of ATA authorized test centers primarily as a channel
for the nationwide delivery of our tests, which is an important
consideration for many of our test sponsor clients, as well as a
means to build our brand by placing ATA signage in our numerous
test centers across China. We do not provide loan guarantees,
asset pledges or any other financial support to the ATA
authorized test centers.
We receive license fees from our test center operators in the
form of either a single initial license fee or a combination of
initial license fee and annual continuing license fees. Under
either fee arrangement, our licensees can extend their licensing
agreement with us indefinitely. We recognize revenue from
initial license fees on a straight-line basis over the expected
licensing period, which currently is ten years. We recognize
revenue from annual license fees once collectibility is
reasonably assured, which has generally been once we receive
cash payment, over the remaining months of the year to which the
annual license fees relate.
Certificates. Many of our testing services clients,
including well-known test sponsors, charge passing candidates a
separate fee to receive a certificate for a test passed. We
produce and deliver these certificates to these candidates upon
request. We charge a per-certificate price for the certificates
and recognize revenues from certificate issuances upon delivery
of the certificate.
Test content creation services. Our test content creation
services include the installation of our technology on client
testing platforms, the conversion of paper-based tests into
computer-based tests, and other related services. We build test
items for computer-based tests using our advanced testing
technologies and we license our testing technologies to clients
to enable them to create and administer their own tests. We have
also developed other advanced testing technologies for creating
sophisticated computer-based tests. We generate revenues from
our test content creation services through service fees charged
to governmental agencies, IT vendors and other sponsors of
licensure, certification and qualification tests. We recognize
revenue from our test content creation services upon the
acceptance of the services by the client.
Teacher training services. Through our teacher training
services, we organize training events for teachers to improve
their understanding of our course program content and our
E-testing platform as
used in the context of our degree major and single course
programs. We charge schools a fixed price per teacher attending
our training sessions, which typically take one week to
complete. For course content training, we generally outsource
the training presentation to the IT vendors that provided the
content for the specific course program, or to college
professors or other instructors or trainers with expertise in
the course program subject matter. We recognize revenue from
teacher training services upon completion of the services, which
usually occurs within several weeks.
Educational compact discs and textbooks. We do not market
our educational materials, such as compact discs and textbooks,
separately from the course programs to which they relate.
However, our clients, mainly educational institutions, may
request additional copies of course program compact discs and
textbooks to replace those lost by students or to provide
additional copies for instructors. We recognize revenue from
sales of educational compact discs and textbooks upon receiving
cash payment at delivery.
Other fees and services. From time to time and as
requested by our clients, we may perform certain IT consulting
or system integration work for our test sponsor clients. These
are typically short one-time contracts from which we recognize
revenue upon completion of the services, which usually occurs
within a short period of time. We also, from time to time,
receive revenue from content providers for our test-based
educational services course programs in the form of marketing
fees charged to these content
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providers to host conferences and events to promote the course
programs. We recognize revenue from these marketing fees upon
receiving cash payment.
Cost of Revenues
Our cost of revenues consists primarily of royalty fees, payroll
compensation, the cost of inventory sold and test delivery
monitoring costs, all of which are directly attributable to the
provision of our testing services, test-based educational
services, test preparation solutions and our other products and
services. The following table shows our cost of revenues and
gross profit for the periods indicated:
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RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for percentages) |
|
Net revenues
|
|
|
69,037 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
84,881 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
32,368 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
76,248 |
|
|
|
10,176 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
Cost of revenues
|
|
|
33,988 |
|
|
|
49.2 |
% |
|
|
41,102 |
|
|
|
48.4 |
% |
|
|
18,750 |
|
|
|
57.9 |
% |
|
|
32,777 |
|
|
|
4,374 |
|
|
|
43.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross profit
|
|
|
35,049 |
|
|
|
50.8 |
% |
|
|
43,779 |
|
|
|
51.6 |
% |
|
|
13,618 |
|
|
|
42.1 |
% |
|
|
43,471 |
|
|
|
5,802 |
|
|
|
57.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The largest component of our cost of revenues is attributable to
royalty fees paid to IT vendors for the use of their proprietary
content in our course programs and our computer-based tests. We
pay substantially all of these royalty fees under an enrollment
model, whereby royalty fees are determined based on the number
of students who enroll in the course. Under limited
circumstances, an IT vendor may also charge an annual royalty
cost regardless of the number of students enrolled in, or that
take the final test for, the course.
The second largest component of our cost of revenues relates to
payroll compensation. Payroll consists of base salary and
related welfare benefits paid to staff in our services
implementation and customer support departments.
Our cost of inventory sold is comprised of printed learning
material that are pre-printed by third parties and that we
record as inventory. When a school contracts with us for degree
major and single course programs, we deliver the related compact
discs and textbooks and other course materials prior to the
start of the course programs. Cost of inventory is recognized on
a first-in-first-out
basis.
|
|
|
Test Delivery Monitoring Costs
|
Our test delivery monitoring costs consist of fees paid to hire
test proctors, rental of testing facilities and peripheral items
used for the provision of our testing services, such as USB
flash drives used for security control keys, computer cameras
used during testing for communication and identification,
compact discs used to store and deliver our testing software,
and signage used to identify and brand our ATA authorized test
centers.
|
|
|
Factors Affecting Gross Margin
|
Our gross margin is affected by changes in our net revenues and
cost of revenues. Our net revenues are determined by the number
of schools or IT vendors to which we provide services, the
number of test sponsors we provide testing services to and the
number of test takers per test title, the amount of software
products we sell and the number of test preparation users that
purchase our online point cards, as well as by the amounts we
can charge for our services. Our cost of revenues are affected
by the size of, and increases or decreases in, royalty payments
to IT vendors and other content providers for our course
66
programs. Degree major and single course program licensing fees
are subject to mutual negotiation between us and the content
providers. While we may be able to negotiate better royalty fees
with some content providers as our business grows larger, we may
also experience cases where content provider licensing fees may
increase. For example, we may need to pay larger-than-average
license fees for the right to create new, or update existing,
course program titles for more popular IT career paths and
technologies. These licensing fees may also increase over time,
but we may feel compelled to continue providing these course
programs to schools, despite increasing costs, in order to
support existing degree major course programs and course
offerings at various schools.
Our gross margin is also affected by the mix of our service
offerings. For example, the introduction of test preparation
solutions such as our NTET Tutorial Platform and ATA
Onlines online test preparation services in November 2006,
which both involve relatively low direct costs of service,
contributed to our higher gross margin in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 and the six months ended September 30,
2007. Our gross margin will, in part, be affected by how
successful we are in increasing the proportion of our revenues
derived from services that have a lower direct cost of service.
In addition, our cost of revenues is recognized as incurred,
typically at the beginning of the revenue recognition period.
Therefore, a significant amount of our degree major course
program revenues is recognized ratably over the course period or
school year while related costs are generally incurred up front.
We expect our gross margin to fluctuate from quarter to quarter
due to this cost recognition policy. We expect gross margin to
be lower in the quarters ending September 30 and
March 31 of each fiscal year as these are times when school
starts, educational materials are distributed to the schools and
we recognize the majority of our course program costs.
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses consist of research and development
expenses, sales and marketing expenses and general and
administrative expenses.
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|
|
Research and Development Expenses
|
Our research and development expenses consist primarily of costs
of equipment used in our research and development activities,
salaries and benefits for our research and development
personnel, cost of outsourcing services and other costs relating
to the design, development, testing and enhancement of our
products and services.
|
|
|
Sales and Marketing Expenses
|
Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of sales
commissions paid to our sales personnel, cost of hosting
conferences, advertising expense, travel and entertainment
expenses, salaries and benefits for our sales and marketing
personnel, and other sales and marketing expenses.
|
|
|
General and Administrative Expenses
|
Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of
salaries and benefits for our administrative and finance
personnel, professional fees, office expenses, rental costs,
provisions for uncollectible accounts receivable, travel and
entertainment expenses, and share-based compensation expense.
Taxation
Under the current laws of the Cayman Islands and the British
Virgin Islands, neither we nor ATA BVI is subject to tax on its
income or capital gains. In addition, payment of dividends by
either company is not subject to withholding tax in those
jurisdictions.
Until December 31, 2007, our subsidiaries incorporated in
China, ATA Testing and ATA Learning, were governed by the PRC
Enterprise Income Tax Law for Foreign-Invested Enterprises and
67
Foreign Enterprises. Our affiliated PRC entity, ATA Online, was
subject to the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Provisional
Regulations. Under those laws and regulations, foreign-invested
enterprises, such as ATA Testing and ATA Learning, and domestic
Chinese companies, such as ATA Online, were generally subject to
enterprise income tax at a statutory rate of 33% (30% national
income tax plus 3% local income tax). However, ATA Testing and
ATA Learning have enjoyed preferential tax treatments provided
by local and national Chinese tax authorities. In addition,
under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law for Foreign-Invested
Enterprises and Foreign Enterprises, dividends paid to us by ATA
Testing and ATA Learning were exempt from withholding tax. As
foreign-invested productive enterprises and new technology
enterprises located in Beijing, ATA Testing and ATA Learning
were given tax incentives that have the effect of
(i) exempting the company from enterprise income tax for
their first three tax years following establishment;
(ii) providing the company a reduced enterprise income tax
rate of 7.5% for the fourth through sixth tax years following
establishment; and (iii) providing the company a
preferential enterprise income tax rate of 15% for tax years
thereafter. ATA Testing, established in 1999, enjoyed a
preferential enterprise income tax rate of 15% for the taxable
year 2007, while ATA Learning was exempted from enterprise
income tax for the tax years 2003, 2004 and 2005 and enjoyed a
7.5% enterprise income tax rate for the years 2006 and 2007.
On March 16, 2007, the National Peoples Congress of
China enacted a new Enterprise Income Tax Law, or New EIT Law,
and in December 2007, the State Council promulgated the
implementing rules of the New EIT Law, both of which became
effective on January 1, 2008. Unlike the Income Tax Law for
Foreign-Invested Enterprises and Foreign Enterprises, the New
EIT Law does not specifically exempt withholding tax on
dividends paid by foreign-invested enterprises to foreign
investors. The implementing rules of the New EIT Law set the
rate of such withholding tax at 10%. The ultimate withholding
tax rate on dividends is subject to reduction by applicable tax
treaty between the PRC and the tax residence of the foreign
investor. We are actively monitoring the withholding tax on
dividends and are evaluating appropriate organizational changes
to minimize any unfavorable tax consequences, to the extent
practicable.
In addition, the New EIT Law imposes a unified enterprise income
tax rate of 25% on all domestic enterprises and foreign-invested
enterprises unless they qualify for certain tax incentives.
Under the New EIT Law, enterprises that were established and
already enjoyed preferential tax treatments before
March 16, 2007 will continue to enjoy them (1) in the
case of reduced tax rates, for a period of five years from
January 1, 2008, or (ii) in the case of fixed-term tax
holidays, until the expiration of such term, subject to certain
phase-out rules. Under the phase-out rules, ATA Testing is
expected to be subject to a reduced 18% enterprise income tax
rate for the taxable year 2008, a 20% rate for 2009, a 22% rate
for 2010, a 24% rate for 2011, and a normal 25% rate from 2012
onwards. ATA Learning is expected to be subject to a reduced
7.5% enterprise income tax rate for the taxable year 2008, and
the same tax rates as those applicable to ATA Testing from 2009
onwards. The New EIT Law permits certain high-technology
enterprises to enjoy a reduced 15% enterprise tax rate. If
ATA Testing and ATA Learning qualify as high-technology
enterprises and are eligible for preferential tax treatments
under the New EIT Law during the phase-out period of their
current tax preferential treatment, they may be allowed to
choose the more favorable treatment between the phase-out
treatment and the 15% reduced-rate treatment under the New EIT
Law. Neither the New EIT Law nor its implementing rules specify
the qualification criteria. Pending promulgation of the
qualification criteria, which are yet to be formulated by the
finance and tax authorities of the State Council, we cannot
assure you that ATA Testing or ATA Learning will qualify as
high-technology enterprises under the New EIT Law.
Under applicable Chinese tax laws, foreign-invested enterprises
and domestic chinese companies may carry forward losses up to
five years. As a result of accumulated operating losses by our
PRC subsidiaries, and our affiliated PRC entity, as of
March 31, 2007, we had RMB15.6 million
($2.1 million), respectively, in gross operating loss
carryforwards that could be used to offset taxable income in
future tax years.
68
ATA Testing, ATA Learning and ATA Online are also subject to
Chinese business tax. We pay business tax on gross revenues
generated from service and license fees in China at a rate of
5%. This business tax is included as a reduction of revenue in
our consolidated statements of operations.
Critical Accounting Policies
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity
with U.S. GAAP, which requires us to make judgments,
estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of
our assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and
liabilities on the date of each set of consolidated financial
statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses
during each financial reporting period. We continually evaluate
these estimates and assumptions based on the most recently
available information, our own historical experience and various
other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the
circumstances. Since the use of estimates is an integral
component of the financial reporting process, actual results
could differ from those estimates as a result of changes in our
estimates or changes in the facts or circumstances underlying
our estimates and assumptions.
An accounting policy is considered to be critical if it requires
an accounting estimate to be made based on assumptions about
matters that are highly uncertain at the time such estimate is
made, and if different accounting estimates that reasonably
could have been used, or changes in the accounting estimates
that are reasonably likely to occur periodically, could
materially impact the consolidated financial statements. Some of
our accounting policies require higher degrees of judgment than
others in their application. We consider the policies discussed
below to be critical to an understanding of our consolidated
financial statements as their application places the most
significant demands on our managements judgment. When
reviewing our consolidated financial statements, you should take
into account:
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|
|
|
|
our critical accounting policies discussed below; |
|
|
|
the related judgments made by us and other uncertainties
affecting the application of these policies; |
|
|
|
the sensitivity of our reported results to changes in prevailing
facts and circumstances and our related estimates and
assumptions; and |
|
|
|
the risks and uncertainties described under Risk
Factors. |
See note 2 to our audited consolidated financial statements
for additional information regarding our significant accounting
policies.
Critical determinations made in connection with our revenue
recognition policies are set forth below.
Determination of applicability of VSOE. In determining
our revenue recognition model for license fees from educational
institutions, we have concluded, based on our past experience
with our educational institution clients and our anticipated
service model, that vendor specific objective evidence, or VSOE,
does not exist for the post-contract services, or PCS, and other
services provided in the degree major and single course
programs, which are the only undelivered elements subsequent to
the beginning of the programs. If the licensing and service
arrangements with schools change from our current model to such
where significant evidence for VSOE does exist for the PCS and
services provided then we may no longer recognize revenue from
educational institutions ratably over the service period on a
straight-line basis. In such a case, we may instead recognize
revenue on a relative fair value basis.
Determination of single course program service period.
Some of our current single course program contracts do not have
a fixed contract term. Upon commencement of a single course
program that does not have a definitive term, we estimate, based
on our historical experience, the percentage of contracts that
will be completed within 12 months, and recognize revenue
for such contracts on a straight-line basis over a period of
five months, which is the expected service period, based on our
historical
69
experience of the average length of the course period and our
regular evaluation of such estimate. Such estimate is consistent
with our understanding of educational institutions course
schedules. If the course program service period for revenue
recognition increased or decreased by one month, our net
revenues from course programs in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 would not have been significantly impacted.
Determination of single course program deferred revenue.
For the percentage of single course program contracts that are
not expected to be completed within 12 months, we do not
recognize revenue until the course is completed or we otherwise
obtain confirmation from the school that we no longer have any
future obligation. Based on historical trend analysis and our
expectation that in the future the number of courses that are
not completed within 12 months will gradually decrease,
each year we estimate a certain percentage of all new courses
started during that year but were not expected to be completed
within 12 months. If the actual number of courses that have
a delivery period of greater than 12 months is materially
higher than our estimate, we may need to revise our revenue
deferral policy for future periods. If the percentage of
estimated deferred revenue for new courses started during the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 and not completed within
12 months changed by 10%, our net revenues in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2007 would not have been significantly
impacted.
We assess the likelihood that our net deferred income tax assets
will be realized from future taxable income. To the extent that
we believe that it is more likely than not that some portion or
the entire amount of deferred income tax assets will not be
realized, we establish a valuation allowance. In assessing the
need for a valuation allowance, we consider all available
evidence, including projected future taxable income, tax
planning strategies, historical taxable income (losses), and the
expiration period of the operating loss carryforwards.
In assessing the realizability of deferred income tax assets, we
consider whether it is more likely than not that some portion or
all of the deferred income tax assets will not be realized. The
ultimate realization of deferred income tax assets is dependent
upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods
in which those temporary differences become deductible or tax
carryforwards are utilized. We consider projected future taxable
income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment.
The largest component of deferred income tax assets is the net
operating loss carryforwards generated by ATA Testing. ATA
Testing incurred operating losses through 2004. ATA Testing
utilized tax loss carryforwards, which were previously provided
for, amounting to RMB1.2 million and RMB1.0 million,
respectively, in the years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007.
We believe that ATA Testings cumulative operating losses
for the three-year period ended March 31, 2006 constituted
significant evidence that deferred income tax assets would not
be realizable and this evidence outweighed our expectations that
ATA Testing would generate future taxable income. Therefore, a
valuation allowance of RMB2.3 million has been provided
against ATA Testings deferred income tax assets as of
March 31, 2006. The deferred income tax assets of
RMB0.4 million recognized on net operating loss generated
during the three months ended March 31, 2006 was expected
to be recovered within the tax year of 2006, thus no valuation
allowance was provided. For the year ended March 31, 2007,
we considered the continuous realization of tax loss
carryforwards, the marginal cumulative operating losses for the
three-year period ended March 31, 2007, the level of
non-deductible permanent differences and our expectations of ATA
Testings generation of future taxable income, and
concluded that ATA Testings deferred income tax assets as
of March 31, 2007 are more likely than not realizable.
Therefore, we released the valuation allowance of
RMB1.4 million attributable to ATA Testings tax loss
carryforwards and recognized an income tax benefit in the
consolidated statements of operations. The valuation allowance
of RMB0.1 million as of March 31, 2007 was provided
for the net operating loss carryforwards of ATA Online. Due to
the short operating history of ATA Online, we do not believe
that its deferred income tax assets are more likely than not
realizable and therefore, a full valuation allowance was
provided against ATA Onlines deferred income tax assets as
of March 31, 2007. The amount of the net deferred income
tax assets considered realizable as of March 31, 2007 could
be reduced in the near term if estimates of future taxable
income are reduced.
70
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Allowance for Doubtful Accounts
|
We maintain allowances for doubtful accounts for estimated
losses resulting from the failure of customers to make required
payments. We review the accounts receivable on a periodic basis
and make specific allowances when there is doubt as to the
collectibility of individual balances. In evaluating the
collectibility of individual receivable balances, we consider
many factors, including the age of the balance, the
customers past payment history and current
credit-worthiness and current economic trends. To date, we have
not written-off any customer receivable, although we have
recognized provisions for doubtful accounts of
RMB0.9 million and RMB0.5 million during the years
ended March 31, 2006 and 2007, respectively.
If our assumptions regarding the financial condition of our
customers and their ability and willingness to pay us are
incorrect, our actual bad debt provisions may be higher than
estimated, which could result in a charge against our income and
a higher level of allowance for doubtful accounts in the future,
either of which could have a material adverse effect on our
financial condition and results of operations.
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Share-Based Compensation to Employees
|
As further described in Note 12 to our Consolidated
Financial Statements, we have elected to adopt the Statement of
Financial Accounting Standards
No. 123-R,
Share-Based Payment, or SFAS 123R. Under
SFAS 123R, the cost of all share-based payment transactions
are recognized in our consolidated financial statements based on
their grant-date fair value over the required period, which is
generally the period from the date of grant to the date when the
share compensation is no longer contingent upon additional
service from the employee, or the vesting period. When no future
services are required to be performed by the employee in
exchange for an award of equity instruments, and if such award
does not contain a performance or market condition, the cost of
the award (as measured based on the grant-date fair value of the
equity instrument) is expensed on the grant date.
The determination of fair value of equity awards such as options
requires making complex and subjective judgments about the
projected financial and operating results of the subject
company. It also requires making certain assumptions relating to
cost of capital, general market and macroeconomic conditions,
industry trends, comparable companies, share price volatility of
the subject company, expected lives of options and discount
rates. These assumptions are inherently uncertain. Changes in
these assumptions could significantly affect the amount of
employee share-based compensation expense we recognize in our
consolidated financial statements.
We determined the estimated fair value of our employees
share options granted in April 2005, December 2005, May 2006,
December 2006 and October 2007 based on retrospective valuations
conducted by Sallmanns (Far East) Limited, an independent
third-party valuation firm. In determining the per share value
of our common shares for purposes of determining the fair value
of the options, we considered the guidance prescribed by the
AICPA Audit and Accounting Practice Aid Valuation of
Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as
Compensation, or Practice Aid. Specifically,
paragraph 16 of the Practice Aid sets forth the preferred
types of valuation that should be used. The fair value of our
common shares was determined in a two-step process. In the first
step, the equity value of our company was determined based on a
valuation performed by Sallmanns (Far East) Limited. Sallmanns
(Far East) Limited considered both the market approach and
income approach to arrive at the fair value of our equity value.
Sallmanns (Far East) Limited considered the market approach in
the form of guideline company method and in the context of an
equity transaction with unrelated third parties in exchange for
cash consideration. Due to lack of general consistency in the
guideline companies valuation ratios, Sallmanns (Far East)
Limited did not apply any weight to the guideline company to
arrive at the fair value of our equity. In accordance with the
Practice Aid, because we had an equity transaction in March 2005
with an unrelated party in consideration for cash, we believed
this equity transaction established a reference to determine a
fair value of our equity value for option grants proximate to
this transaction. Therefore, for the valuation of options
granted in April 2005, December 2005 and May 2006, which were in
the 12-month
71
proximity with the March 2005 transaction, income approach
(discounted cash flow method) was used with the discount rate
referencing the recent equity transaction to arrive at the value
of our equity value for these respective grants. For option
grants after May 2006, without available reference of an equity
transaction, income approach served as the method to determine
our equity value. For the October 2007 grant, the fair value of
the 391,800 stock options granted was determined by using the
binomial option-pricing model with an estimated fair market
value of underlying shares of $9.52 (the mid-point of the
estimated range of the initial public offering price of this
offering after a discount of 9.16% to account for inherent
business risk and lack of marketability).
For the income approach, Sallmanns (Far East) Limited utilized a
discounted cash flow method based on our projected cash flows
from 2006 through 2011, including the following factors:
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|
analysis of our industry and comparable listed companies; |
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|
our business and future development plan which includes
estimated revenue volume and average unit price; |
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|
our historical financial results; |
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|
our projections of gross margins, earnings before income tax
margin, capital expenditures and working capital changes from
2006 through 2011; and |
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|
appropriate discount rate to bring the projected future net cash
flows available for payment of shareholders interest to
their present worth. |
Sallmanns (Far East) Limited used a weighted average cost of
capital, or WACC, of 11.68% as the discount rate to determine
the enterprise value in May 2006, which was near a 12-month
proximity to an equity transaction with unrelated third parties
in exchange for cash consideration. The near-term equity
transaction established a fair value basis for us and an implied
discount rate of 11.68% in the transaction was resolved to
reflect expectations of free cash flows at that point of time.
We believe that such discount rate represented the fair value
risk perception of the unrelated investors. Our operations had
not undergone major changes from the near-term equity
transaction to May 2006 and therefore the same discount rate was
applied in the May 2006 valuation. Sallmanns (Far East) Limited
used a discount rate of 16% to determine the enterprise value of
our company in December 2006. There were no equity transactions
objectively establishing our discount rate near a 12-month
proximity of this issuance and the discount rate was derived
using the WACC formula.
In the second step, since our capital structure comprised a
warrant, preferred shares and common shares at the grant date,
Sallmanns (Far East) Limited allocated our equity value between
each class of equity securities using the option pricing method.
The option pricing method treats the warrant, common shares and
preferred shares as call options on our companys equity
value, with exercise prices based on the warrants exercise
price and liquidation preference of the preferred shares. We
determined the fair value of the options on the date of grant by
using the binomial option pricing method under the following
assumptions.
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May 2006 |
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December 2006 |
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October 2007 |
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options |
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options |
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options |
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|
Expected volatility of future common share price
|
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|
57 |
% |
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|
56 |
% |
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|
43 |
% |
Expected dividend rate
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|
Expected term of the options
|
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|
9.3 years |
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8.9 years |
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1.8 years |
|
Risk-free interest rate (per annum)
|
|
|
5.06 |
% |
|
|
4.66 |
% |
|
|
4.56 |
% |
Estimated fair value of each common share at grant date
|
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|
$1.14 |
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|
$1.66 |
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|
$9.52 |
|
We estimate the expected volatility of our future common share
price based on the price volatility of the publicly traded
common shares of comparable companies in the United States over
the most recent period to be equal to the expected option life
of our employees share options. The maturity of the option
is estimated based on the contractual terms of our
employees share options. To determine the estimated
72
fair value of our share options, we believe that the expected
volatility and the fair value of our common shares are the most
subjective assumptions, as we are a private company prior to the
completion of this offering. The fair value of the 330,400,
250,000 and 391,800 options granted as of May 26, 2006,
December 27, 2006 and October 1, 2007 was $140,800,
$171,500 and $2,473,437 respectively.
We believe that the increase in the fair value of our common
shares between the May 2006 and December 2006 grant date was
attributable to the following significant factors and events. We
experienced strong growth in testing services and test-based
educational services in the fiscal quarter ended
December 31, 2006. In addition, we launched our NTET test
preparation software and our online service platform in the same
quarter. Further, in the same quarter, we hired a new vice
president responsible for product and service development.
However, the valuation did not increase more significantly
because we incurred negative operating cashflows during the
period from May to December 2006 and we expected our operating
cash flow to remain negative in the fiscal quarter ended
March 31, 2007. Finally, new revenue contributors such as
test preparation were still in the relatively early stages of
development and subject to significant uncertainty which is also
reflected in the increased discount rate applied as discussed in
the preceding paragraphs.
We believe that the increase in the fair value of our common
shares between December 2006 and the present is attributable to
the following significant factors and events:
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In January 2007, we underwent an organizational restructuring to
realign resources to focus on development of testing services
and test-based preparation solutions. In addition, operating
resources were realigned to minimize duplicate sales and
marketing, research and development and administrative efforts. |
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|
Since June 2007, our test preparation business model has become
more mature, developing an established distribution channel,
clear pricing structure, stable product and service offerings
and support from test sponsors in marketing and distribution. |
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|
Since June 2007, we have experienced and we expect to continue
to experience rapid and substantial growth in test volume due to
significant new contracts from the China Banking Association,
Securities Association of China and Ministry of Culture to test
and certify professionals working in their respective industries. |
We had 4,052,863 employee share options outstanding, including
2,694,026 immediately exercisable employee share options, as of
March 31, 2007. The following table sets out information
regarding our outstanding employee share options as of
March 31, 2007:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Options Outstanding as of March 31, 2007 |
|
Options Exercisable as of March 31, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
Remaining |
|
|
|
Remaining |
Number |
|
Exercise Price |
|
Contractual |
|
Number of |
|
Exercise Price |
|
Contractual |
of Shares |
|
per Share |
|
Life |
|
Shares |
|
per Share |
|
Life |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
($) |
|
|
|
|
|
($) |
|
|
|
1,369,863 |
|
|
|
0.545 |
|
|
|
6.1 years |
|
|
|
1,369,863 |
|
|
|
0.545 |
|
|
|
6.1 years |
|
|
1,312,600 |
|
|
|
2.263 |
|
|
|
8.0 years |
|
|
|
1,077,288 |
|
|
|
2.263 |
|
|
|
8.0 years |
|
|
790,000 |
|
|
|
3.600 |
|
|
|
8.7 years |
|
|
|
246,875 |
|
|
|
3.600 |
|
|
|
8.7 years |
|
|
330,400 |
|
|
|
3.600 |
|
|
|
9.2 years |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
250,000 |
|
|
|
3.600 |
|
|
|
9.7 years |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,052,863 |
|
|
|
2.134 |
|
|
|
7.7 years |
|
|
|
2,694,026 |
|
|
|
1.512 |
|
|
|
7.1 years |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For our share options issued in 2005 and 2006, we used an
expected volatility that ranged from 56% to 64% and estimated
fair values for our common shares that ranged from $0.89 to
$1.66 per share, resulting in estimated weighted average
fair values of $0.378 and $0.538 per option, respectively.
We recorded non-cash share-based compensation expenses of
RMB4.2 million and RMB2.5 ($0.3 million) million
in the fiscal years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007,
respectively. As of March 31, 2007, there were
73
RMB2.6 million of total unrecognized compensation costs related
to non-vested share options. These costs are expected to be
recognized over the next four years. Further, in connection with
the October 2007 grant of 391,800 options, an additional
RMB18.5 million in unrecognized compensation costs are
expected to be recognized as compensation expense over the
vesting period. Twenty-five percent (25%) of the October 2007
options granted vested on January 1, 2008, while the
remaining seventy-five percent (75%) vest ratably at the end of
each month over the following 30-month period.
Changes in our estimates and assumptions regarding the expected
volatility and valuation of our common shares could
significantly impact the estimated fair values of our share
options determined under the binomial valuation model and, as a
result, our net loss and the net loss applicable to our common
shareholders.
|
|
|
Fair Value of Equity Instruments Issued to Third
Parties
|
On May 23, 2005, as a result of a modification of a note
payable and extension of a warrants maturity, we
re-determined the fair value of the warrant to be
RMB22.4 million, based on an independent valuation by
Sallmanns (Far East) Limited using the Black-Scholes option
pricing model. The assumptions used in determining the fair
value of the warrant were: expected dividend yield of 0%,
risk-free interest rate of 3.35%, maturity life of one year,
volatility of 64% and fair value of underlying common shares of
$0.89. We believe that the use of the Black-Scholes option
pricing model for the issuance of the warrants in May 2005, in
the absence of an exchange of certain rights or privileges which
could be valued in direct relation to monetary amounts, was the
most appropriate valuation technique. The model was considered
to be appropriate to value the issuance of the warrants in May
2005 because of the development of our business model between
2003 and 2005, which provided a more reliable basis upon which
to estimate certain key assumptions used, in particular, the
long-term growth rate and discount rate. In addition, the
existence of unrelated share issuances in March 2005 to third
parties in exchange for cash consideration provided a basis to
correlate the enterprise value underlying the Black-Scholes
model to that implicit in the issuance of warrants for cash. The
warrant was exercised in full in June 2006.
Changes in our estimates and assumptions regarding the expected
volatility and valuation of our common shares could have
significantly impacted the estimated fair values of the warrant
determined under the Black-Scholes option pricing model and, as
a result, our net loss and the net loss applicable to our common
shareholders for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2006.
Results of Operations
The following table sets forth a summary, for the periods
indicated, of our consolidated results of operations and each
item expressed as a percentage of our total net revenues. Our
historical results presented below are not necessarily
indicative of the results that may be expected for any future
period.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for percentages and per share data) |
|
Net revenues:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Testing services
|
|
|
18,170 |
|
|
|
26.3 |
% |
|
|
24,628 |
|
|
|
29.0 |
% |
|
|
10,622 |
|
|
|
32.8 |
% |
|
|
29,472 |
|
|
|
3,933 |
|
|
|
38.6 |
% |
|
Test-based educational services
|
|
|
35,138 |
|
|
|
50.9 |
% |
|
|
42,804 |
|
|
|
50.4 |
% |
|
|
18,749 |
|
|
|
57.9 |
% |
|
|
20,891 |
|
|
|
2,788 |
|
|
|
27.4 |
% |
|
Test preparation solutions
|
|
|
340 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
% |
|
|
10,076 |
|
|
|
11.9 |
% |
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
0.1 |
% |
|
|
21,632 |
|
|
|
2,887 |
|
|
|
28.4 |
% |
|
Other
|
|
|
15,389 |
|
|
|
22.3 |
% |
|
|
7,373 |
|
|
|
8.7 |
% |
|
|
2,992 |
|
|
|
9.2 |
% |
|
|
4,253 |
|
|
|
568 |
|
|
|
5.6 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total net revenues
|
|
|
69,037 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
84,881 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
32,368 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
76,248 |
|
|
|
10,176 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
Cost of revenues
|
|
|
33,988 |
|
|
|
49.2 |
% |
|
|
41,102 |
|
|
|
48.4 |
% |
|
|
18,750 |
|
|
|
57.9 |
% |
|
|
32,777 |
|
|
|
4,374 |
|
|
|
43.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross profit
|
|
|
35,049 |
|
|
|
50.8 |
% |
|
|
43,779 |
|
|
|
51.6 |
% |
|
|
13,618 |
|
|
|
42.1 |
% |
|
|
43,471 |
|
|
|
5,802 |
|
|
|
57.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
74
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for percentages and per share data) |
|
Operating expenses:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Research and development
|
|
|
4,854 |
|
|
|
7.0 |
% |
|
|
9,322 |
|
|
|
11.0 |
% |
|
|
4,018 |
|
|
|
12.4 |
% |
|
|
5,286 |
|
|
|
706 |
|
|
|
6.9 |
% |
|
Sales and marketing
|
|
|
12,263 |
|
|
|
17.8 |
% |
|
|
22,029 |
|
|
|
26.0 |
% |
|
|
10,843 |
|
|
|
33.5 |
% |
|
|
12,094 |
|
|
|
1,614 |
|
|
|
15.8 |
% |
|
General and administrative
|
|
|
19,023 |
|
|
|
27.6 |
% |
|
|
32,024 |
|
|
|
37.7 |
% |
|
|
12,316 |
|
|
|
38.1 |
% |
|
|
17,355 |
|
|
|
2,316 |
|
|
|
22.8 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total operating expenses
|
|
|
36,140 |
|
|
|
52.4 |
% |
|
|
63,375 |
|
|
|
74.7 |
% |
|
|
27,177 |
|
|
|
84.0 |
% |
|
|
34,735 |
|
|
|
4,636 |
|
|
|
45.5 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Loss) income from operations
|
|
|
(1,091 |
) |
|
|
(1.6 |
%) |
|
|
(19,596 |
) |
|
|
(23.1 |
%) |
|
|
(13,559 |
) |
|
|
(41.9 |
%) |
|
|
8,736 |
|
|
|
1,166 |
|
|
|
11.5 |
% |
Equity in net losses of affiliates
|
|
|
(561 |
) |
|
|
(0.8 |
%) |
|
|
(187 |
) |
|
|
(0.2 |
%) |
|
|
(320 |
) |
|
|
(1.0 |
%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gain from sale of an affiliate
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,837 |
|
|
|
379 |
|
|
|
3.7 |
% |
Gain from liquidation of an affiliate
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,509 |
|
|
|
1.8 |
% |
|
|
1,509 |
|
|
|
4.7 |
% |
|
|
988 |
|
|
|
132 |
|
|
|
1.3 |
% |
Interest income
|
|
|
332 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
% |
|
|
600 |
|
|
|
0.7 |
% |
|
|
349 |
|
|
|
1.1 |
% |
|
|
270 |
|
|
|
36 |
|
|
|
0.3 |
% |
Interest expense
|
|
|
(22,713 |
) |
|
|
(32.9 |
%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss from revaluation of preferred share warrant
|
|
|
(211 |
) |
|
|
(0.3 |
%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign currency exchange losses, net
|
|
|
(1,050 |
) |
|
|
(1.5 |
%) |
|
|
(909 |
) |
|
|
(1.1 |
%) |
|
|
(519 |
) |
|
|
(1.6 |
%) |
|
|
(186 |
) |
|
|
(25 |
) |
|
|
(0.2 |
%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Loss) income before income tax
|
|
|
(25,294 |
) |
|
|
(36.6 |
%) |
|
|
(18,583 |
) |
|
|
(21.9 |
%) |
|
|
(12,540 |
) |
|
|
(38.7 |
%) |
|
|
12,645 |
|
|
|
1,688 |
|
|
|
16.6 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income tax benefit (expense)
|
|
|
485 |
|
|
|
0.7 |
% |
|
|
1,793 |
|
|
|
2.1 |
% |
|
|
683 |
|
|
|
2.1 |
% |
|
|
(4,115 |
) |
|
|
(550 |
) |
|
|
(5.4 |
%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net (loss) income
|
|
|
(24,809 |
) |
|
|
(35.9 |
%) |
|
|
(16,790 |
) |
|
|
(19.8 |
%) |
|
|
(11,857 |
) |
|
|
(36.6 |
%) |
|
|
8,530 |
|
|
|
1,138 |
|
|
|
11.2 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accretion of Series A redeemable convertible preferred
shares to redemption value
|
|
|
(13,889 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign currency exchange translation adjustment on
Series A redeemable convertible preferred shares
|
|
|
3,269 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net (loss) income (applicable) available to common
shareholders
|
|
|
(35,429 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(16,790 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(11,857 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
8,530 |
|
|
|
1,138 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
75
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, |
|
|
For the Six Months Ended September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for percentages and per share data) |
|
Basic (loss) earnings per common share
|
|
|
(2.16 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(0.82 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.39 |
|
|
|
0.05 |
|
|
|
|
|
Diluted (loss) earnings per common share
|
|
|
(2.16 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(0.82 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(0.61 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.23 |
|
|
|
0.03 |
|
|
|
|
|
Six Months Ended September 30, 2007 Compared to Six
Months Ended September 30, 2006
Our total net revenues increased by RMB43.9 million, or
135.6%, to RMB76.2 million ($10.2 million) in the six
months ended September 30, 2007 from RMB32.4 million
in the six months ended September 30, 2006, primarily as a
result of increases in revenues from our testing services and
significant sales of our NTET Tutorial Platform, which was
launched in November 2006. Our test preparation solutions
revenue increased to RMB21.6 million ($2.9 million) in
the six months ended September 30, 2007 from RMB5,000 in
the six months ended September 30, 2006.
Testing services. Testing services revenues increased by
RMB18.9 million, or 177.5%, to RMB29.5 million
($3.9 million) in the six months ended September 30,
2007 from RMB10.6 million in the six months ended
September 30, 2006. This increase was primarily driven by
test delivery revenue, which increased by RMB18.8 million,
or 188.9%, to RMB28.7 million ($3.8 million) in the six
months ended September 30, 2007 from RMB9.9 million in
the six months ended September 30, 2006. The total number
of tests delivered increased to 2,065,249 in the six months
ended September 30, 2007 from 2,004,640 in the six months
ended September 30, 2006. Our average revenue per test
delivered also increased to RMB14.3 ($1.9) in the six months
ended September 30, 2007 from RMB5.3 in the six months
ended September 30, 2006. This increase in both the average
revenue per test and the number of tests delivered was due, in
part, to a significant increase in the number of finance
industry-related tests delivered, which tests also have a higher
than average revenue per test. Our net revenues from the China
Banking Association, the Securities Association of China and the
China Futures Association grew to an aggregate of
RMB19.5 million ($2.6 million) in the six months ended
September 30, 2007 from RMB1.2 million in the six
months ended September 30, 2006. The number of tests
delivered for these three clients increased to 334,869 in the
six months ended September 30, 2007 from 32,333 tests in
the six months ended September 30, 2006. We expect growth
from testing services revenues to continue to increase, driven
significantly by increases in the volume of finance
industry-related tests and the introduction of new test titles
for the finance industry and other clients.
Test-based educational services. Revenues from test-based
educational services increased by RMB2.1 million, or 11.4%,
to RMB20.9 million ($2.8 million) in the six months
ended September 30, 2007 from RMB18.7 million in the
six months ended September 30, 2006. This increase was
driven by increases in revenues from single course programs and
pre-occupational training programs. Single course program
revenue increased RMB1.6 million, or 64.0%, to
RMB4.1 million ($0.5 million) in the six months ended
September 30, 2007 from RMB2.5 million in the six
months ended September 30, 2006. We experienced an increase
of 47.8% in the number of student-months for single course
programs to 101,603 in the six months ended September 30,
2007 from 68,740 in the six months ended September 30,
2006, while the effective average price of our single course
programs increased by 11.1% to RMB40.1 ($5.4) in the six months
ended September 30, 2007 from RMB36.1 in the six months
ended September 30, 2006 due to a higher contribution to
revenues from higher-priced single course programs in the six
months ended September 30, 2007. Pre-occupational training
program revenues increased to RMB1.4 million ($0.2 million)
in the six months ended September 30, 2007 from
RMB0.4 million in the six months ended September 30,
2006 as a result of an increase in the number of students
participating in these programs. Increases in revenues from our
single course programs and pre-occupational programs were
partially offset
76
by a decrease of RMB0.5 million, or 3.1%, in revenues from
our degree major course program to RMB15.4 million ($2.1
million) in the six months ended September 30, 2007 from
RMB15.9 million in the six months ended September 30,
2006. The number of degree major student-months decreased 8.1%
to 198,178 in the six months ended September 30, 2007 from
215,650 in the six months ended September 30, 2006, while
the average price per student-month of our degree major course
programs increased by 5.6% to RMB77.9 from RMB73.8 during the
same periods. The decrease in the degree major student-months
was due primarily to an increasing number of students graduating
from our existing degree major course programs not being fully
offset by new student intake into the programs. We anticipate
stable growth from our test-based education services as we offer
more degree major course programs with licensed content from
Tsinghua University and as pre-occupational training programs
become more popular, as partially offset by an increase in the
number of students that graduate from our current degree major
course programs.
Test preparation solutions. Our revenues from test
preparation solutions increased to RMB21.6 million
($2.9 million) in the six months ended September 30,
2007 from RMB5,000 in the six months ended September 30,
2006, primarily as a result of rapid increases in the sales of
our NTET Tutorial Platform and our online test preparation
services. Sales of our NTET Tutorial Platform contributed
RMB20.0 million, or 92.5%, of our test preparation
solutions revenues in the six months ended September 30,
2007. We believe that sales of our NTET Tutorial Platform will
continue to accelerate as more teachers plan to complete their
qualification tests in the coming years and as more schools
purchase our NTET Tutorial Platform to help teachers prepare for
the test. Revenues from our online test preparation services for
finance industry-related tests accounted for the remainder of
our test preparation solutions revenue in the six months ended
September 30, 2007. We expect our online test preparation
services revenues to increase as increasing numbers of banking
and securities industry professionals and test takers use our
online services to prepare for their licensure tests or to
satisfy their continuous professional training requirements as
required by industry rules.
Other revenue increased by RMB1.3 million, or 42.1%, to
RMB4.3 million ($0.6 million) in the six months ended
September 30, 2007 from RMB3.0 million in the six
months ended September 30, 2006, primarily due to a
significant increase in revenues from test content creation
services. We expect other revenue to continue to grow in the
future as growth in testing services and test-based educational
services continues to drive demand for our ancillary services
for which we charge service fees.
Our gross profit increased by RMB29.9 million to
RMB43.5 million ($5.8 million) in the six months ended
September 30, 2007 from RMB13.6 million in the six
months ended September 30, 2006. Our gross margin increased
to 57.0% in the six months ended September 30, 2007 from
42.1% in the six months ended September 30, 2006. This
increase in our gross margin was principally due to the
significantly higher gross margins of our NTET Tutorial Platform
and ATA Onlines online test preparation services, both of
which were introduced in November 2006 and have a much lower
cost structure relative to our testing services and test-based
educational services. These test preparation services contain a
much lower relative cost structure because they do not require
us to pay royalty fees to content providers and the operation of
an Internet-based delivery platform does not require high
marginal operating costs. Offsetting this was an increase in our
test monitoring costs, due principally to higher monitoring
costs related to the initial national banker licensure tests
that we delivered. We expect that our cost of revenues related
to our revenues from test sponsors, educational institutions and
test preparation customers will remain stable or increase
slightly, but at a slower rate than the overall growth of our
revenues as we increase our test preparation revenues and enjoy
the operating economies of scale from test delivery services.
Our operating expenses increased by RMB7.5 million, or
27.8%, to RMB34.7 million ($4.6 million) in the six
months ended September 30, 2007 from RMB27.2 million
in the six months
77
ended September 30, 2006, primarily resulting from a
substantial increase in our general and administrative expenses.
In connection with our grant of share options to certain
employees in October 2007, we expect to incur operating expenses
of RMB17.6 million ($2.3 million) over the vesting
schedule of the options. Twenty-five percent (25%) of the
October 2007 options granted vested on January 1, 2008,
while the remaining seventy-five percent (75%) vest ratably at
the end of each month over the following
30-month period.
Research and development expenses. Our research and
development expenses increased by RMB1.3 million, or 31.6%,
to RMB5.3 million ($0.7 million) in the six months
ended September 30, 2007 from RMB4.0 million in the
six months ended September 30, 2006. This increase was due
primarily to increases in salaries and other compensation
expenses relating to our research and development professionals.
Research and development expenses as a percentage of our total
net revenues decreased significantly during this period. We
expect our research and development expenses in future periods
to rise steadily but to continue to decrease as a percentage of
our total revenues, as we do not expect to utilize outsourced
development of new course content for test-based educational
services to the same extent as we have in the past.
Sales and marketing expenses. Our sales and marketing
expenses increased by RMB1.3 million, or 11.5%, to
RMB12.1 million ($1.6 million) in the six months ended
September 30, 2007 from RMB10.8 million in the six
months ended September 30, 2006. Sales and marketing
expenses as a percentage of our total net revenues decreased to
15.9% in the six months ended September 30, 2007 from 33.5%
in the six months ended September 30, 2006. This percentage
decrease was primarily related to our increase in revenues from
testing services and test preparation solutions, as business
development activities for testing services and test preparation
solutions require less sales and marketing outlays compared to
business development activities for test-based educational
services. We expect that our sales and marketing expenses will
increase in the near term as we increase our incentive pay to
our sales team, increase our sales efforts, hire additional
sales personnel, target new educational institution clients and
initiate additional marketing programs to build our
ATA brand. However, we expect that the rate of
growth in our overall revenues will continue to outpace the rate
of growth in our sales and marketing expenses.
General and administrative expenses. Our general and
administrative expenses increased by RMB5.0 million, or
40.9%, to RMB17.3 million ($2.3 million) in the six
months ended September 30, 2007 from RMB12.3 million
in the six months ended September 30, 2006. This increase
was primarily due to an increase of RMB2.4 million in
certain professional fees which we incurred in connection with
our preparation for operating as a publicly listed company and
an increase of RMB1.3 million related to the hiring of new
management staff. Although our general and administrative
expenses increased significantly over this period, general and
administrative expenses as a percentage of our total net
revenues decreased to 22.8% in the six months ended
September 30, 2007 from 38.0% in the six months ended
September 30, 2006. We expect our general and
administrative expenses to continue to increase as we hire
additional personnel and incur expenses to support our
operations as a U.S. publicly traded company, including
compliance-related costs. However, we also expect our general
and administrative expenses to continue to decrease as a
percentage of revenues as we achieve greater efficiency in our
operations.
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Equity in Net Loss of an Affiliate
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Our equity in income of affiliates was nil in the six months
ended September 30, 2007, compared with loss in affiliates
of RMB0.3 million in the six months ended
September 30, 2006, all of which derived from our 40%
equity interest in Wendu Education, which was sold during the
six months ended September 30, 2007.
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Gain from Sale of an Affiliate
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We sold 100% of our equity interest in Wendu Education during
the six months ended September 30, 2007 and recognized
RMB2.8 million ($0.4 million) in income in relation to
the sale.
78
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Gain from Liquidation of an Affiliate
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We recognized a gain in relation to proceeds received upon
completion of the liquidation of ATA Jiangsu of
RMB1.5 million and RMB1.0 million ($0.1 million)
for the six months ended September 30, 2006 and 2007,
respectively.
Our interest income was RMB0.3 million ($36,048) in the six
months ended September 30, 2007 and RMB0.3 million in
the six months ended September 30, 2006. Our interest
income was slightly lower in the six months ended
September 30, 2007 largely as a result of a decrease in
cash balance in higher interest earning U.S. dollar bank
accounts offset by an overall higher cash balance.
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Foreign Currency Exchange Losses, Net
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Our net foreign currency exchange losses decreased to
RMB0.2 million ($24,864) in the six months ended
September 30, 2007 from RMB0.5 million in the six
months ended September 30, 2006 primarily due to a decrease
in our U.S. dollar assets offset by the effect of the
appreciation of the Renminbi versus the U.S. dollar during 2006
and 2007.
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Income Tax Benefit (Expense)
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We had an income tax expense of RMB4.1 million
($0.5 million) in the six months ended September 30,
2007, compared with an income tax benefit of RMB0.7 million
in the six months ended September 30, 2006. Our effective
tax rate increased from 5.4% in the six months ended
September 30, 2006 to 32.5% in the six months ended
September 30, 2007. This increase was mainly due to the
fact that we turned from a loss before income tax in the six
months ended September 30, 2006 to a profit before income
tax in the six months ended September 30, 2007 and the
impact from non-tax-deductible expenses, which decrease the
income tax benefit in loss-making periods and increase the
income tax expenses in profit-making periods.
The tax holiday increased the actual income tax benefit by
RMB0.2 million and decreased the actual income tax expense
by RMB0.2 million for the six months ended
September 30, 2006 and 2007, respectively. The effect of
the tax holiday on basic earnings per common share for the six
months ended September 30, 2006 and 2007 were RMB0.009 and
RMB0.011, respectively. The effect on diluted earnings per
common share of the tax holiday for the six months ended
September 30, 2006 and 2007 were RMB0.009 and RMB0.006,
respectively.
As a result of the above factors, we had net income of
RMB8.5 million ($1.1 million) in the six months ended
September 30, 2007 as compared to a net loss of
RMB11.9 million in the six months ended September 30,
2006.
The basic (loss) earnings per common share were RMB(0.61)
and RMB0.39 for the six months ended September 30, 2006 and
2007, respectively. The diluted (loss) earnings per common
share were RMB(0.61) and RMB0.23 for the six months ended
September 30, 2006 and 2007, respectively. The
Companys dilutive common equivalent shares for the six
months ended September 30, 2006 and 2007 consisted of
920,119 and 3,118,875 common shares issuable upon exercise of
outstanding share options, respectively (using the treasury
stock method), 2,294,549 and 516,576 common shares issuable upon
exercise of warrants, respectively (using the treasury stock
method), and 11,593,077 and 11,730,554 common shares issuable
upon the conversion of the convertible preferred shares,
respectively (using the as-converted method). These potentially
dilutive securities were not included in the calculation of
dilutive loss per share for the period ended September 30,
2006 due to their anti-dilutive effect.
79
Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2007 Compared to Fiscal Year
Ended March 31, 2006
Our total net revenues increased by RMB15.9 million, or
22.9%, to RMB84.9 million ($11.3 million) in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 from RMB69.0 million
in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, largely as a
result of significant sales of our NTET Tutorial Platform, which
was launched in November 2006. Our test preparation solutions
revenue increased to RMB10.1 million ($1.3 million) in
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 from
RMB0.3 million in the fiscal year ended March 31,
2006, making this our fastest growing source of revenue.
Offsetting this increase was a decrease in other revenue from
ATA Jiangsu in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. We
recognized RMB4.4 million from ATA Jiangsu in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2006 and nil in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007.
Testing services. Testing services revenues increased by
RMB6.4 million, or 35.5%, to RMB24.6 million
($3.3 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007
from RMB18.2 million in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006. This increase was primarily driven by test
delivery revenue that increased by RMB6.4 million, or
37.5%, to RMB23.4 million ($3.1 million) in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2007 from RMB17.0 million in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. The total number of tests
delivered increased from 2,583,712 in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006 to 3,335,701 in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007. Our average revenue per test delivered also
increased to RMB7.0 ($0.9) in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 from RMB6.57 in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006. This increase in both the average revenue
per test and the number of tests delivered was due, in part, to
an increase in the number of finance industry-related tests
delivered, which tests also have a higher than average per test
revenue. In addition, with the recent growth in trading activity
in Chinas securities markets, an increasing number of
people took tests to obtain the necessary securities
professional licenses. We experienced an increase of 66.6% in
volume to 185,156 finance industry-related tests, most of which
were related to the securities industry, delivered in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2007, which tests are mainly comprised
of securities industry-related tests, which increased to 134,907
test takers in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 from
94,359 test takers in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.
In addition, new tests, such as the NTET test, contributed an
additional 93,073 test takers in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007.
Test-based educational services. Revenues from test-based
educational services increased by RMB7.7 million, or 21.8%,
to RMB42.8 million ($5.7 million) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007 from RMB35.1 million in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. This increase was mainly
due to an increase in degree major course program revenue.
Degree major course program revenue increased
RMB6.2 million, or 20.7%, to RMB36.0 million
($4.8 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007
from RMB29.8 million in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006. The number of major student-months
increased 16.1% to 465,856 in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 from 401,415 in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006. This growth was a result of an increase in
the number of schools offering our degree major course programs
to 137 in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 from 117 in
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. Single course program
revenue increased RMB0.4 million, or 8.1%, to
RMB5.7 million ($0.8 million) in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 from RMB5.3 million in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2006. Although we experienced a 23.8%
increase in student-months to 133,562 in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 from 107,891 in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006, the average price of our single course
programs declined from RMB49 in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006 to RMB43 ($5.7) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007. This decrease in the average selling
price for our single course programs was due to the launch of a
new course program in April 2006 that has a RMB37.0 ($4.9) fee
per student-month. This course program had a lower fee per
student-month principally because we did not license third-party
course content for this course program. Pre-occupational
training program revenues increased to RMB1.1 million
($0.1 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007
from RMB7,283 in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, as a
result of increased marketing of this program in key cities and
provinces such as Beijing, Henan and Anhui.
80
Test preparation solutions. The significant increase in
our revenues from test preparation solutions to
RMB10.1 million ($1.3 million) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007 from RMB0.3 million in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2006 was mainly a result of the
successful launch and sales of over 11,000 copies of our NTET
Tutorial Platform in the fiscal quarter ended December 31,
2006. Sales of our NTET Tutorial Platform contributed 98.6% of
our test preparation solutions revenues in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007. This software test preparation product was
popular among schools across China as teachers in these schools
sought to prepare for the National Teachers Skill Test of
Applied Educational Technology in Secondary and Elementary
School qualification test. In November 2006, ATA Online launched
online test preparation services, generating revenue of
RMB0.1 million ($17,842) from sales of 4,019 online point
cards during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.
Other. Other revenue declined by RMB8.0 million, or
52.1%, to RMB7.4 million ($1.0 million) in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2007 from RMB15.4 million in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. This was largely due to
the ending of recognition of licensing fee revenue from ATA
Jiangsu in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. Licensing
fees from ATA Jiangsu were RMB4.4 million in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2006 as a result of recognition of all
remaining deferred revenue resulting from an upfront payment of
RMB6.5 million made to ATA Testing in 2002 by
ATA Jiangsu. In 2002, ATA Jiangsu made a
RMB6.5 million payment to ATA Testing in exchange for
assigning ATA Testings rights and interests in a number of
test delivery service contracts to ATA Jiangsu. We initially
anticipated that the service contracts would generate revenues
and that ATA Testing would provide ancillary services under the
contract with ATA Jiangsu for a period of ten years. We
therefore deferred revenue recognition of the initial
RMB6.5 million payment upon receipt in 2002, and began to
recognize the amount into income over a ten-year period on a
straight-line basis. However, in 2005, the board of directors of
ATA Jiangsu resolved to commence a voluntary winding up of ATA
Jiangsu. Therefore, we recognized the remaining deferred revenue
into income as ATA Testing had no further obligations to ATA
Jiangsu as a result of their voluntary wind-up. In addition,
test content creation revenue declined by RMB1.9 million,
or 52.8% to RMB1.7 million ($0.2 million) in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 from RMB3.6 million
in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. This was because a
higher percentage of our test content was up to date and did not
require any new chargeable test content to be created. Other
service fees also decreased by RMB0.5 million to
RMB0.3 million ($39,388) in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 from RMB0.8 million in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2006 as the content providers for our
test-based educational course programs required less promotional
activities during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.
Our gross profit increased by RMB8.8 million, or 24.9%, to
RMB43.8 million ($5.8 million) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007 from RMB35.0 million, which
included RMB4.4 million in revenue from ATA Jiangsu, in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. Our gross margin
increased to 51.6% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007
from 50.8% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. This
increase in our gross margin was primarily due to a decline in
the marginal costs required to generate additional revenue. The
test preparation services we launched in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007, including our NTET Tutorial Platform and
online test preparation services, contain a much lower cost
structure relative to our testing services and test-based
educational services because they do not require us to pay
royalty fees to content providers and the operation of an
Internet-based delivery platform does not require high marginal
operating costs. In addition, the decline in our marginal costs
was a result of our being able to deliver larger numbers of
tests to greater numbers of test takers without significantly
increasing our personnel or peripheral costs related to our test
delivery services.
Our operating expenses increased by RMB27.3 million, or
75.3%, to RMB63.4 million ($8.5 million) in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2007 from RMB36.1 million in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 as a result of substantial
increase in our research and development expenses sales and
81
marketing expenses and, as well as a less pronounced increase in
general and administrative expenses. We believe that our
substantial increase in spending on research and development and
sales and marketing in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007
was important to building the foundation for accelerating our
future revenue growth, and to achieving and increasing
profitability in the future. We also substantially increased our
general and administrative spending to enhance the quality of
our management team in anticipation of the rapid growth of our
business and to prepare to become a U.S. publicly listed
company. In connection with our grant of share options to
certain employees in October 2007, we expect to incur operating
expenses of RMB17.6 million ($2.3 million) over the
vesting schedule of the options. Twenty-five percent (25%) of
the October 2007 options granted vested on January 1, 2008,
while the remaining seventy-five percent (75%) vest ratably at
the end of each month over the following
30-month period.
Research and development expenses. Our research and
development expenses increased by RMB4.4 million, or 92.1%,
to RMB9.3 million ($1.2 million) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007 from RMB4.9 million in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2006. Research and development
expenses as a percentage of our total net revenues increased to
11.0% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 from 7.0% in
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. This increase
resulted, in part, from increased average salaries for our
research and development personnel, which was offset by a
decrease in the number of our in-house research and development
personnel from 56 as of March 31, 2006 to 53 as of
March 31, 2007. In addition, we incurred additional
expenses in connection with the substantial increase in the use
of outside technical consultants to develop new content for our
test-based educational services in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007.
Sales and marketing expenses. Our sales and marketing
expenses increased by RMB9.7 million, or 79.6%, to
RMB22.0 million ($2.9 million) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007 from RMB12.3 million in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. Sales and marketing
expenses as a percentage of our total net revenues increased to
26.0% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 from 17.8% in
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. This increase
resulted primarily from increases in sales commission,
entertainment, conferences and travel expenses as we continued
to expand our sales and marketing efforts in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007. In addition, we increased our sales
and marketing staff from 70 as of March 31, 2006 to 96 as
of March 31, 2007 to intensify our efforts to acquire new
clients and contracts in test-based educational services.
General and administrative expenses. Our general and
administrative expenses increased by RMB13.0 million, or
68.3%, to RMB32.0 million ($4.3 million) in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2007 from RMB19.0 million in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. General and
administrative expenses as a percentage of our total net
revenues increased to 37.7% in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 from 27.6% in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006. This increase was due to an increase from
44 administrative staff as of March 31, 2006 to 62
administrative staff as of March 31, 2007, including staff
increases in our finance and legal departments, and our senior
management in product development. This increase also resulted
from an increase in IPO-related professional fees from
RMB1.2 million in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006
to RMB9.2 million ($1.2 million) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007.
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Gain from Liquidation of an Affiliate
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Our gain from liquidation of an affiliate was
RMB1.5 million ($0.2 million) in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 primarily due to a forgiveness of a
liability upon the completion of ATA Jiangsus liquidation
on May 10, 2006.
Our interest income was RMB0.6 million ($80,060) in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, compared with
RMB0.3 million in the fiscal year ended March 31,
2006. Our higher interest income in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 was attributable to interest earned on
higher cash balance deposited with financial institutions.
82
Our interest expense was nil in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007. We incurred RMB22.7 million of interest
expense in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 due to
RMB22.7 million of the loan discount on the
RMB19 million note payable to a third party. Under the
original loan agreement, the note payable was due, with
interest, on April 11, 2004. However, in March 2003, the
third-party lender agreed to extend the maturity of the loan to
May 2005 and forgive all previously accrued interest on the loan
and to waive all future interest on the loan through the date of
maturity. In exchange, we issued a warrant to the third party to
purchase up to 20% of our common shares. In May 2005, the note
payable and warrant were each extended, and the number of common
shares the third party was entitled to purchase under the loan
was determined to be 5,479,452 shares. In May 2006, ATA
Testing repaid the loan in its entirety, and the third-party
lender exercised its warrant in full in June 2006. We recognized
RMB22.7 million in loan discount in relation to this loan
in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.
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Foreign Currency Exchange Losses, Net
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Our foreign currency exchange losses, net, decreased to
RMB0.9 million ($0.1 million) in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 from RMB1.1 million in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2006 primarily due a decrease in our U.S.
dollar assets offset by the effect of the appreciation of the
Renminbi versus the U.S. dollar during 2006. We had
significant U.S. dollar assets due to the proceeds from our
March 2005 sale of our preferred shares. See
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About
Market Risk Foreign Currency Risk.
We incurred current income tax expenses of nil in the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2006 and incurred RMB26,187 ($3,495)
current income tax expenses in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007. One of our PRC subsidiaries, ATA Learning,
was enjoying a tax holiday during the tax year ended
December 31, 2005 and a reduced enterprise income tax rate
of 7.5% during the tax years ended or ending December 31,
2006 and 2007. The current income tax expense of RMB26,187 was
attributable to our PRC operations during the year ended
March 31, 2007. Our other PRC subsidiary, ATA Testing, and
affiliated PRC entity, ATA Online, had accumulated losses prior
to and as of March 31, 2007. ATA Testing utilized tax loss
carryforwards, which were previously provided for, amounting to
RMB1,185,570 and RMB957,566, respectively, in the years ended
March 31, 2006 and 2007. We believe that ATA Testings
cumulative operating losses for the three-year period ended
March 31, 2006 constituted significant evidence that
deferred income tax assets would not be realizable and this
evidence outweighed our expectations that ATA Testing would
generate future taxable income. Therefore, a full valuation
allowance has been provided against ATA Testings deferred
income tax assets as of March 31, 2006. In the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007, we considered the continuous
realization of tax loss carryforwards, the marginal cumulative
operating losses for the three-year period ended March 31,
2007, the level of non-deductible permanent differences and our
expectations of ATA Testings generation of future taxable
income, and concluded that ATA Testings deferred income
tax assets as of March 31, 2007 are more likely than not
realizable. Therefore, we released the valuation allowance of
RMB1,391,220 attributable to ATA Testings tax loss
carryforwards and recognized an income tax benefit in the
consolidated statements of operations. Without the income tax
holiday, the total income tax expense in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006 would have been RMB58,857.
As a result of the above factors, our net loss decreased to
RMB16.8 million ($2.2 million) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007 from a net loss of
RMB24.8 million in the fiscal year ended March 31,
2006.
83
|
|
|
Accretion of Preferred Shares
|
We recorded an accretion to the redemption value of our
preferred shares in the amount of RMB13.9 million as a
reduction to earnings to arrive at net loss applicable to common
shareholders in our consolidated statements of operations for
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. Upon the elimination
of the redemption feature on our preferred shares on
March 9, 2006, our preferred shares were reclassified to
permanent equity and as a result we ceased recording such
accretion.
|
|
|
Foreign Currency Exchange Translation Adjustment on
Preferred Shares
|
Prior to March 9, 2006, we re-measured the effects of
currency exchange rate movements on the carrying value of our
preferred shares, which were classified outside of permanent
equity since issuance and we recorded a foreign currency
exchange loss of RMB3.3 million as a reduction to earnings
to arrive at net loss applicable to common shareholders in our
consolidated statements of operations for the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006. Upon the elimination of the redemption
feature on March 9, 2006, our preferred shares were
reclassified to permanent equity and as a result we ceased
recording such
re-measurement.
|
|
|
Net Loss Applicable to Common Shareholders
|
As a result of the above factors, our net loss applicable to
common shareholders decreased to a net loss of
RMB16.8 million ($2.2 million) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007 from RMB35.4 million in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. Without the income tax
holiday, our net loss applicable to common shareholders in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 would have further
increased to RMB36.0 million.
|
|
|
Basic and Diluted Loss Per Share Applicable to Common
Shareholders
|
As a result of the above factors, our basic and diluted loss
applicable to common shareholders decreased to RMB0.82 ($0.11)
in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 from RMB2.16 in the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. Without the income tax
holiday, our basic and diluted loss per share applicable to
common shareholders in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006
would have further increased to RMB2.19.
84
Quarterly Financial Information
The following table sets forth condensed consolidated results of
operations data, each derived from our unaudited condensed
consolidated financial statements for the three-month periods
ended on the dates indicated. You should read the following
table in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial
statements and related notes contained elsewhere in this
prospectus.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, 2006 |
|
|
March 31, 2007 |
|
|
June 30, 2007 |
|
|
September 30, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
(in thousands, except for percentages) |
|
Net revenues:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Testing services
|
|
|
10,875 |
|
|
|
30.0 |
|
|
|
3,131 |
|
|
|
19.3 |
|
|
|
8,088 |
|
|
|
30.6 |
|
|
|
21,384 |
|
|
|
43.0 |
|
|
Test-based educational services
|
|
|
11,964 |
|
|
|
33.0 |
|
|
|
12,091 |
|
|
|
74.5 |
|
|
|
10,690 |
|
|
|
40.4 |
|
|
|
10,201 |
|
|
|
20.5 |
|
|
Test preparation solutions
|
|
|
10,022 |
|
|
|
27.6 |
|
|
|
49 |
|
|
|
0.3 |
|
|
|
5,675 |
|
|
|
21.4 |
|
|
|
15,957 |
|
|
|
32.0 |
|
|
Other
|
|
|
3,427 |
|
|
|
9.4 |
|
|
|
954 |
|
|
|
5.9 |
|
|
|
2,016 |
|
|
|
7.6 |
|
|
|
2,237 |
|
|
|
4.5 |
|
Total net revenues
|
|
|
36,288 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
|
|
|
16,225 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
|
|
|
26,469 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
|
|
|
49,779 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
|
Cost of revenues
|
|
|
10,418 |
|
|
|
28.7 |
|
|
|
11,934 |
|
|
|
73.6 |
|
|
|
12,717 |
|
|
|
48.0 |
|
|
|
20,060 |
|
|
|
40.3 |
|
Gross profit
|
|
|
25,870 |
|
|
|
71.3 |
|
|
|
4,291 |
|
|
|
26.4 |
|
|
|
13,752 |
|
|
|
52.0 |
|
|
|
29,719 |
|
|
|
59.7 |
|
Operating expenses:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Research and development
|
|
|
2,742 |
|
|
|
7.6 |
|
|
|
2,562 |
|
|
|
15.8 |
|
|
|
2,551 |
|
|
|
9.6 |
|
|
|
2,735 |
|
|
|
5.5 |
|
|
Sales and marketing
|
|
|
5,597 |
|
|
|
15.4 |
|
|
|
5,589 |
|
|
|
34.4 |
|
|
|
5,927 |
|
|
|
22.4 |
|
|
|
6,167 |
|
|
|
12.4 |
|
|
General and administrative
|
|
|
10,968 |
|
|
|
30.2 |
|
|
|
8,740 |
|
|
|
53.9 |
|
|
|
6,539 |
|
|
|
24.7 |
|
|
|
10,816 |
|
|
|
21.7 |
|
Total operating expenses
|
|
|
19,307 |
|
|
|
53.2 |
|
|
|
16,891 |
|
|
|
104.1 |
|
|
|
15,017 |
|
|
|
56.7 |
|
|
|
19,718 |
|
|
|
39.6 |
|
Income (loss) from operations
|
|
|
6,563 |
|
|
|
18.1 |
|
|
|
(12,600 |
) |
|
|
(77.7 |
) |
|
|
(1,265 |
) |
|
|
(4.7 |
) |
|
|
10,001 |
|
|
|
20.1 |
|
Equity in income (loss) of an affiliate
|
|
|
170 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
|
|
|
(37 |
) |
|
|
(0.2 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gain from sale of an affiliate
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,837 |
|
|
|
5.7 |
|
Gain from liquidation of an affiliate
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
988 |
|
|
|
3.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest income
|
|
|
133 |
|
|
|
0.3 |
|
|
|
118 |
|
|
|
0.7 |
|
|
|
121 |
|
|
|
0.4 |
|
|
|
149 |
|
|
|
0.3 |
|
Foreign currency exchange losses, net
|
|
|
(279 |
) |
|
|
(0.8 |
) |
|
|
(111 |
) |
|
|
(0.6 |
) |
|
|
(92 |
) |
|
|
(0.3 |
) |
|
|
(94 |
) |
|
|
(0.2 |
) |
Income (loss) before income tax
|
|
|
6,587 |
|
|
|
18.1 |
|
|
|
(12,630 |
) |
|
|
(77.8 |
) |
|
|
(248 |
) |
|
|
(0.9 |
) |
|
|
12,893 |
|
|
|
25.9 |
|
Income tax benefit (expense)
|
|
|
316 |
|
|
|
0.9 |
|
|
|
794 |
|
|
|
4.9 |
|
|
|
(523 |
) |
|
|
(2.0 |
) |
|
|
(3,592 |
) |
|
|
(7.2 |
) |
Net income (loss)
|
|
|
6,903 |
|
|
|
19.0% |
|
|
|
(11,836 |
) |
|
|
(72.9 |
%) |
|
|
(771 |
) |
|
|
(2.9 |
%) |
|
|
9,301 |
|
|
|
18.7% |
|
85
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, 2005 |
|
|
March 31, 2006 |
|
|
June 30, 2006 |
|
|
September 30, 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
% |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except for percentages) |
|
Net revenues:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Testing services
|
|
|
8,152 |
|
|
|
33.5 |
|
|
|
2,417 |
|
|
|
15.5 |
|
|
|
8,171 |
|
|
|
38.8 |
|
|
|
2,451 |
|
|
|
21.7 |
|
|
Test-based educational services
|
|
|
10,035 |
|
|
|
41.3 |
|
|
|
10,196 |
|
|
|
65.2 |
|
|
|
11,442 |
|
|
|
54.4 |
|
|
|
7,307 |
|
|
|
64.5 |
|
|
Test preparation solutions
|
|
|
147 |
|
|
|
0.6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other
|
|
|
5,988 |
|
|
|
24.6 |
|
|
|
3,011 |
|
|
|
19.3 |
|
|
|
1,431 |
|
|
|
6.8 |
|
|
|
1,561 |
|
|
|
13.8 |
|
Total net revenues
|
|
|
24,322 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
|
|
|
15,624 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
|
|
|
21,049 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
|
|
|
11,319 |
|
|
|
100.0 |
|
Cost of revenues
|
|
|
6,640 |
|
|
|
27.3 |
|
|
|
11,183 |
|
|
|
71.6 |
|
|
|
8,683 |
|
|
|
41.3 |
|
|
|
10,067 |
|
|
|
88.9 |
|
Gross profit
|
|
|
17,682 |
|
|
|
72.7 |
|
|
|
4,441 |
|
|
|
28.4 |
|
|
|
12,366 |
|
|
|
58.7 |
|
|
|
1,252 |
|
|
|
11.1 |
|
Operating expenses:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Research and development
|
|
|
1,077 |
|
|
|
4.4 |
|
|
|
1,767 |
|
|
|
11.3 |
|
|
|
1,943 |
|
|
|
9.2 |
|
|
|
2,075 |
|
|
|
18.3 |
|
|
Sales and marketing
|
|
|
3,303 |
|
|
|
13.6 |
|
|
|
3,266 |
|
|
|
20.9 |
|
|
|
5,195 |
|
|
|
24.7 |
|
|
|
5,648 |
|
|
|
50.0 |
|
|
General and administrative
|
|
|
4,981 |
|
|
|
20.5 |
|
|
|
3,567 |
|
|
|
22.8 |
|
|
|
5,885 |
|
|
|
27.9 |
|
|
|
6,431 |
|
|
|
56.8 |
|
Total operating expenses
|
|
|
9,361 |
|
|
|
38.5 |
|
|
|
8,600 |
|
|
|
55.0 |
|
|
|
13,023 |
|
|
|
61.8 |
|
|
|
14,154 |
|
|
|
125.1 |
|
Income (loss) from operations
|
|
|
8,321 |
|
|
|
34.2 |
|
|
|
(4,159 |
) |
|
|
(26.6 |
) |
|
|
(657 |
) |
|
|
(3.1 |
) |
|
|
(12,902 |
) |
|
|
(114.0 |
) |
Equity in income (losses) of affiliates
|
|
|
108 |
|
|
|
0.4 |
|
|
|
(650 |
) |
|
|
(4.1 |
) |
|
|
(133 |
) |
|
|
(0.6 |
) |
|
|
(187 |
) |
|
|
(1.6 |
) |
Gain from liquidation of an affiliate
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,509 |
|
|
|
7.1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest income
|
|
|
111 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
|
|
|
81 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
|
|
|
135 |
|
|
|
0.6 |
|
|
|
214 |
|
|
|
1.9 |
|
(Loss) gain from revaluation of preferred share warrant
|
|
|
(697 |
) |
|
|
(2.8 |
) |
|
|
502 |
|
|
|
3.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign currency exchange losses, net
|
|
|
(171 |
) |
|
|
(0.7 |
) |
|
|
(29 |
) |
|
|
(0.2 |
) |
|
|
(111 |
) |
|
|
(0.5 |
) |
|
|
(408 |
) |
|
|
(3.6 |
) |
Income (loss) before income tax
|
|
|
7,672 |
|
|
|
31.6 |
|
|
|
(4,255 |
) |
|
|
(27.2 |
) |
|
|
743 |
|
|
|
3.5 |
|
|
|
(13,283 |
) |
|
|
(117.3 |
) |
Income tax (expense) benefit
|
|
|
(478 |
) |
|
|
(2.0 |
) |
|
|
391 |
|
|
|
2.5 |
|
|
|
(258 |
) |
|
|
(1.2 |
) |
|
|
941 |
|
|
|
8.3 |
|
Net income (loss)
|
|
|
7,194 |
|
|
|
29.6 |
% |
|
|
(3,864 |
) |
|
|
(24.7 |
%) |
|
|
485 |
|
|
|
2.3 |
% |
|
|
(12,342 |
) |
|
|
(109.0 |
%) |
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Historically, we have financed our working capital and capital
expenditure requirements primarily through debt financing and
more recently through the sale of our preferred shares. As of
September 30, 2007, we had RMB52.6 million
($7.0 million) in cash. Our cash was primarily deposited
with banks in China and Hong Kong. We intend to finance our
future additional working capital and capital expenditure needs
from cash flow provided by operations.
86
The following table summarizes our net cash flows with respect
to operating activities, investing activities and financing
activities in the fiscal years ended March 31, 2006 and
2007 and the six months ended September 30, 2007:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Six |
|
|
|
For the Fiscal Year |
|
|
Months Ended |
|
|
|
Ended March 31, |
|
|
September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities
|
|
|
(16,548 |
) |
|
|
(16,524 |
) |
|
|
6,057 |
|
|
|
808 |
|
Net cash provided by investing activities
|
|
|
12,158 |
|
|
|
1,052 |
|
|
|
2,483 |
|
|
|
331 |
|
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities
|
|
|
(43,942 |
) |
|
|
16,030 |
|
|
|
(829 |
) |
|
|
(111 |
) |
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash
|
|
|
(74 |
) |
|
|
(163 |
) |
|
|
(163 |
) |
|
|
(21 |
) |
Net (decrease) increase in cash
|
|
|
(48,406 |
) |
|
|
395 |
|
|
|
7,548 |
|
|
|
1,007 |
|
Cash at beginning of year/period
|
|
|
93,030 |
|
|
|
44,624 |
|
|
|
45,019 |
|
|
|
6,008 |
|
Cash at end of year/period
|
|
|
44,624 |
|
|
|
45,019 |
|
|
|
52,567 |
|
|
|
7,015 |
|
Net cash used in operating activities was RMB16.5 million
($2.2 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007
compared to net cash used in operating activities of
RMB16.5 million in the fiscal year ended March 31,
2006. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, we paid
RMB7.6 million to a related party, Yinchuan Holding, in
connection with our exercise of a call option to purchase
Yinchuan Holdings 60% equity interest in ATA Learning. We
did not incur a similar interest payment in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007. Without taking into account the
effect of interest payment, our cash used in operating
activities in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 was
RMB7.6 million higher than that in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006 primarily because we paid
RMB8.0 million professional service fees in connection with
our initial public offering process and we increased our
pre-payments under our license from Microsoft China, paying a
substantially higher prepaid royalty in anticipation of growth
in the number of students participating in test-based
educational programs involving Microsoft content. Our
pre-payment to Microsoft China was RMB4.5 million as of
March 31, 2007 as compared to nil as of March 31,
2006. Net cash provided by operating activities in the six
months ended September 30, 2007 turned positive, at
RMB6.1 million ($0.8 million), primarily due to a
significant increase in cash collected from our testing services
and test preparation solutions, including RMB31.5 million
cash collected from test takers in relation to tests delivered
for the China Banking Association. Our current testing services
and test preparation solutions clients generally have a shorter
accounts receivable cycle than our
test-based educational
services clients. Offsetting this cash inflow were cash
expenditures on test monitoring costs, license fees paid to IT
vendors and other operating expenses.
Net cash provided by investing activities was
RMB1.1 million ($0.1 million) in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007 and was affected principally by the deposit
of RMB2.0 million received from the sale of Wendu
Education, and RMB5.1 million received from the collection
of loans and advances to shareholders and management in
connection with a new policy implemented by us to eliminate
personal loans and minimize operations-related loans and
advances available to shareholders and management. Offsetting
these cash increases was a capital expenditure of
RMB4.7 million mainly used to purchase computers and
servers to support our new business initiatives such as online
test preparation services. Net cash provided by investing
activities in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 was
RMB12.2 million, principally due to RMB20.0 million
loan collected from Yinchuan Holding, which was partially offset
by a RMB4.0 million investment in Wendu Education and
RMB2.7 million used in capital expenditures on computer
equipment and servers. Net cash provided by investing activities
in the six months ended September 30, 2007 of
RMB2.5 million ($0.3 million) was primarily
attributable to the proceeds from disposal of our interest in
Wendu Education and from the liquidation of ATA Jiangsu, offset
by RMB2.5 million spent on capital equipment, including
computers and servers.
87
Net cash provided by financing activities was
RMB16.0 million ($2.1 million) in the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007. This was primarily attributable to
the cash proceeds from the exercise of a warrant held by SB Asia
Investment Fund II, L.P. to purchase preferred shares for
RMB24.0 million. Offsetting these proceeds was
RMB8.0 million paid in connection with preparations for our
initial public offering incurred in the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2007. Net cash used by financing activities was
RMB43.9 million in the fiscal year ended March 31,
2006. This was primarily attributable to repayment of a
financial arrangement to acquire the remaining equity ownership
interest in ATA Learning for RMB30.0 million. We also paid
RMB9.9 million to repay advances and loans from both
related and third parties, and RMB4.1 million in connection
with the issuance of our preferred shares and preferred share
related warrants and in preparation of our initial public
offering. Net cash used in financing activities in the six
months ended September 30, 2007 was RMB0.8 million
($0.1 million), attributable to cash paid in connection
with preparations for our initial public offering.
We believe that, without giving effect to this offering, our
current cash and expected future cash flows from operations,
particularly from testing services and test preparation
solutions, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated working
capital and capital expenditures through the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2009, and that giving effect to this offering,
our cash flows will also be sufficient to carry out the
activities described in Use of Proceeds. Our current
expansion plans do not require significant capital commitments.
Obtaining and performing new computer-based testing contracts
does not involve significant new costs or capital outlays and
are generally handled by our existing facilities, resources and
systems. Our expansion into test preparation solutions is also
not cash-intensive as these solutions may be implemented to a
large extent using our existing technologies and service
know-how. We do, however, expect to spend money on the
development of our ATA brand and the licensing of
new course content for our test-based educational programs. We
do not expect our short-term and long-term cash requirements to
be materially different.
Nevertheless, we may require additional sources of liquidity in
the event of changes in business conditions or other future
developments. Factors affecting our sources of liquidity include
our sales performance and changes in working capital. Any
changes in the significant factors affecting our revenues from
testing services, test-based educational services and test
preparation solutions may cause material fluctuations in our
cash generated from operations. See Net
Revenues for a description of these significant factors.
Changes in working capital, including any significant shortening
or lengthening of our accounts receivable cycle or client
prepayment cycles, may also cause fluctuations in our cash
generated from operations. If our sources of liquidity are
insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to
sell additional equity or debt securities to meet our cash
needs. The sale of convertible debt securities or additional
equity securities could result in dilution to our shareholders.
The incurrence of indebtedness would result in debt service
obligations and could result in operating and financial
covenants that would restrict our operations. We cannot assure
you that financing will be available in amounts or on terms
acceptable to us, if at all.
From time to time, we evaluate possible investments,
acquisitions or divestments and may, if a suitable opportunity
arises, make an investment or acquisition or conduct a
divestment. We generally deposit our excess cash in
interest-bearing bank accounts located at banks in China and
Hong Kong.
Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments
The following table sets forth our contractual obligations as of
fiscal year ended March 31, 2007:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Payment Due by Period |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More |
|
|
|
|
|
Within |
|
|
1-3 |
|
|
3-5 |
|
|
than 5 |
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
1 Year |
|
|
Years |
|
|
Years |
|
|
Years |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(In thousands of RMB) |
|
Operating lease obligations
|
|
|
14,745 |
|
|
|
4,110 |
|
|
|
10,635 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our operating lease obligations are comprised of our office
lease obligations for our offices in China, including an
increase in lease payments for the lease of an additional floor
at our current principal
88
office location to cope with growth in our business and
headcount. These office leases expire at different times over
the period from the date of this prospectus through April 2011,
and will become subject to renewal. We will evaluate the need to
renew each office lease on a case-by-case basis prior to its
expiration.
Under our cooperation agreement with Tsinghua University,
entered into in August 2007, for the development and delivery of
course programs using course content provided by Tsinghua
University, we are obligated to pay Tsinghua University at least
RMB15.0 million in license fees for Tsinghua University
course content by the end the third anniversary of the date of
the contract, of which RMB5.0 million was payable prior to
October 31, 2007. The license fees are paid to Tsinghua
University quarterly based on actual usage.
On October 15, 2007, we entered into definitive agreements
to purchase the entire equity interests of Beijing Jindixin
Software Technology Company Limited and JDX Holdings Limited for
an aggregate consideration of RMB10.0 million. On
October 15, 2007, we made a deposit of RMB2.0 million
in the aggregate to the sellers with the remainder of the
consideration due upon closing. The transaction is expected to
close in March 2008, subject to satisfaction of customary
closing conditions.
We currently do not have any outstanding debt, debt securities,
contingent liabilities, mortgages, or liens.
Capital Expenditures
The following table sets forth our historical capital
expenditures for the periods indicated. Actual future capital
expenditures may differ from the amounts indicated below.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Six |
|
|
|
For the Year Ended |
|
|
Months Ended |
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
September 30, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
RMB |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Total capital expenditures
|
|
|
2,699 |
|
|
|
4,721 |
|
|
|
2,558 |
|
|
|
341 |
|
In the past, our capital expenditures were made primarily for
the purchase of computer equipment and servers. Our capital
expenditures for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008 are
expected to be higher than in the past due to additional
purchases of computer equipment and servers. We also expect to
incur capital expenditures in the form of leasehold improvements.
Foreign Exchange
We maintain our accounts in Renminbi, Hong Kong dollars and
U.S. dollars. A substantial majority of our revenues and
expenditures are denominated in Renminbi. The non-Renminbi
portion of our revenues have primarily consisted of
U.S. dollar-denominated licensing fees and royalty
payments, while the non-Renminbi portion of our expenditures
have primarily consisted of professional fees, both denominated
in U.S. dollars, as well as certain Hong Kong
dollar-denominated general and administrative expenses.
Fluctuations in exchange rates, primarily those involving the
U.S. dollar against the Renminbi, may affect our costs and
operating margins and our reported operating results. Under the
current foreign exchange system in China, our operations in
China may not be able to hedge effectively against currency
risk, including any possible future Renminbi devaluation. See
Risk Factors Risks Relating to the
Peoples Republic of China Fluctuations in
exchange rates could result in foreign currency exchange
losses.
89
Off-Balance Sheet Commitments and Arrangements
We do not currently have, and do not expect in the future to
have, any outstanding off-balance sheet arrangements or
commitments. In our ongoing business, we do not plan to enter
into transactions involving, or otherwise form relationships
with, unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships
established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet
arrangements or commitments.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Our exposure to interest rate risk primarily relates to interest
income generated by excess cash, which is mostly held in
interest-bearing bank deposits. We have not used derivative
financial instruments in our investment portfolio.
Interest-earning instruments carry a degree of interest rate
risk. We have not been exposed, nor do we anticipate being
exposed, to material risks due to changes in market interest
rates. However, our future interest income may fall short of
expectations due to changes in market interest rates.
A substantial majority of our revenues and expenditures are
denominated in Renminbi. As a result, fluctuations in the
exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and Renminbi will
affect our financial results in U.S. dollar terms without
giving effect to any underlying change in our business or
results of operations. The Renminbis exchange rate with
the U.S. dollar and other currencies is affected by, among
other things, changes in Chinas political and economic
conditions. The exchange rate for conversion of Renminbi into
foreign currencies is heavily influenced by intervention in the
foreign exchange market by the Peoples Bank of China. From
1995 until July 2005, the Peoples Bank of China intervened
in the foreign exchange market to maintain an exchange rate of
approximately 8.3 Renminbi per U.S. dollar. On
July 21, 2005, the Chinese government changed this policy
and began allowing modest appreciation of the Renminbi versus
the U.S. dollar. However, the Renminbi is restricted to a
rise or fall of no more than 0.5% per day versus the
U.S. dollar, and the Peoples Bank of China continues
to intervene in the foreign exchange market to prevent
significant short-term fluctuations in the Renminbi exchange
rate. Nevertheless, under Chinas current exchange rate
regime, the Renminbi may appreciate or depreciate significantly
in value against the U.S. dollar in the medium to long
term. The Renminbi appreciated 11.9% versus the U.S. dollar
from July 21, 2005 to December 31, 2007. There remains
significant international pressure on the Chinese government to
adopt a substantial liberalization of its currency policy, which
could result in a further and more significant appreciation in
the value of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar.
In recent years, China has not experienced significant
inflation, and thus inflation has not had a material impact on
our results of operations. According to the National Bureau of
Statistics of China, the change in Chinas Consumer Price
Index was 3.9%, 1.8%, 1.5% and 4.6% in the years 2004, 2005,
2006 and the eleven months through November 2007, respectively.
Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
In connection with the audit of our prior consolidated financial
statements (not included in this prospectus), our independent
registered public accounting firm informed us that we lacked
sufficient personnel with the appropriate level of accounting
knowledge, experience and training in the application of
U.S. GAAP, which deficiency amounted to a material
weakness as defined under the standards established by the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. In response to this
material weakness and other internal control deficiencies
previously reported to us by our independent registered public
90
accounting firm we undertook certain remedial steps to improve
our internal controls, including the following:
|
|
|
|
|
Contract Controls Prior to 2006, we did not
have a systematic process to capture, record, process, and
report appropriate revenue information from our contracts. In
2006, we began implementing procedures designed to ensure all
contract information was appropriately captured by our finance
department in a timely manner, including the implementation of,
processes to improve the initiation, authorization, recording,
processing, and reporting of relevant contract data and other
information necessary to properly record our business
transactions in accordance with U.S. GAAP. |
|
|
|
Accounting Management Software Prior to 2006,
our accounting ledgers and records were kept manually. In 2006,
we began to use an accounting management software system to
improve the accuracy of our financial records. In December 2006,
we implemented a new operational system, which allows contract
information to be linked to our accounting management software
system to facilitate real-time updating and management of
financial information. In addition, when fully implemented, this
upgrade will enable us to automate the preparation of certain
financial reports of all our different legal entities. |
|
|
|
Expense and Cash Controls Starting in the
first half of 2007, we began implementing new expense and cash
control procedures designed to ensure that cash advances and
expenses are approved at the appropriate level commensurate with
the amount, and that requests for expense reimbursement by
employees are properly documented. Further, since May 2007, cash
management has been centralized in the finance department of our
Beijing headquarters, including centralized monitoring over the
bank account balances of all our regional offices. In addition,
since March 2007, we have implemented strict cost and expense
accrual reporting by each of our business departments to ensure
costs and expenses are properly accrued at the end of each month. |
|
|
|
Internal and Third Party Monitoring Services
In October 2007, we began efforts to establish an internal audit
team by retaining a professional recruiting firm to help us find
qualified staff in the areas of U.S. GAAP and compliance
with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The purpose of
our internal audit team will be to randomly and periodically
monitor and report on the quality and integrity of our internal
ledgers and accounting system, monitor and report any
deficiencies in contract processing procedures, and monitor the
operating progress of contracts performed as compared to
contracts agreed. In addition, we also plan to give more
training to our accounting staff and hire additional and more
experienced accounting personnel with U.S. GAAP experience. |
Despite these ongoing efforts, in connection with the audit of
our consolidated financial statements for the years ended
March 31, 2006 and 2007, our independent registered public
accounting firm reported to us that we had two material
weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting.
One of the material weaknesses communicated to us was our
inability to provide objectively verifiable evidence to apply
cash collections against our accounts receivable balance
following the implementation of a new operational system in
December 2006. These cash collections were initially incorrectly
recorded as deferred revenue, resulting in an audit adjustment
to remove the overstatement of both accounts receivable and
deferred revenue by RMB6.4 million as of March 31, 2007.
The second material weakness communicated to us was our
continuing lack of sufficient personnel with an appropriate
level of accounting knowledge, experience and training in the
application of U.S. GAAP. As a result of this material
weakness, the following audit adjustments to our consolidated
financial statements for the years ended March 31, 2006 and
2007 were required by our independent registered public
accounting firm to be recorded by us: (1) adjustments to
recognize additional revenue of RMB14.3 million and
RMB2.2 million for the years ended March 31, 2006 and
2007, respectively, due to our initial inappropriate application
of our revenue recognition policy; (2) an adjustment to
charge to expense RMB9.2 million for the year ended
March 31, 2007 due to the initial incorrect deferral of
certain costs
91
relating to our planned initial public offering that do not
qualify for deferral; (3) adjustments to charge to expense
of RMB4.1 million and RMB2.5 million for the years
ended March 31, 2006 and 2007, respectively, due to the
initial improper recognition of share-based compensation;
(4) adjustments to increase our income tax benefit by
RMB0.5 million and RMB1.8 million for the years ended
March 31, 2006 and 2007, respectively, due to the improper
valuation allowance initially recorded on deferred income tax
assets; (5) an adjustment of RMB13.9 million to
increase the net loss applicable to common shareholders for the
year ended March 31, 2006 due to an error in the initial
recording of the accretion of redeemable convertible preferred
shares to redemption value; and (6) an adjustment to
increase net loss for the year ended March 31, 2006 by
RMB22.4 million due to an error in the initial recording of the
extension of a common share warrant. Certain of these errors
also impacted, and required us to make adjustments to, our
consolidated financial statements for periods prior to our
fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.
To address these material weaknesses in our internal controls:
|
|
|
|
|
we are actively seeking to hire additional individuals with the
requisite U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting expertise; |
|
|
|
we intend to increase our in-house expertise and reporting
capabilities through additional training and increased
interaction with our independent registered public accounting
firm; |
|
|
|
we are preparing an accounting policy manual as a reference in
connection with reviewing recurring transactions and period-end
closing processes, among other tasks; |
|
|
|
we intend to strengthen our internal audit function to focus on
financial and reporting processes in addition to our operational
activities; and |
|
|
|
we are implementing monitoring and oversight control for
non-recurring and complex transactions with such procedures to
include the retention of third-party consultants to assist us in
complying with U.S. GAAP and SEC requirements. |
Our independent registered public accounting firm also
communicated to us other deficiencies in our internal control
over financial reporting that required improvement. These
deficiencies included (1) insufficient training of our
newly adopted accounting system, resulting in various accounting
errors; (2) lack of physical control over inventory items
resulting from non-sequential numbering of goods delivery and
receipt; (3) lack of performance review for obsolete
inventory information; (4) insufficient management review
and authorization of employee bonuses; (5) lack of
accountability of recorded transactions resulting from
insufficient documentation for client acceptance of goods and
services received; (6) lack of sufficient reconciliation of
bank account information; (7) lack of management review and
authorization of classification and recording of certain
expenses; (8) insufficient performance review for
information on collectibility of accounts receivable; and
(9) insufficient management review and authorization of
applicability of value-added tax and business tax.
We plan to remediate the material weaknesses and deficiencies
discussed above and to take other steps to improve our internal
control processes in time to meet the deadline for compliance
with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act. If, however, we fail to timely achieve and maintain the
adequacy of our internal controls, we may not be able to
conclude that we have effective internal controls over financial
reporting.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In June 2006, the FASB issued FASB Interpretation No. 48,
Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes,
or FIN 48, which, among other things, requires applying a
more likely than not threshold to the recognition
and derecognition of tax positions. Our adoption of FIN 48
as of April 1, 2007 did not have any effect on our
financial position or results of operations. We have elected to
classify interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax
benefits, if and when required, as part of income tax expense in
the consolidated statements of operations. No interest or
penalties have been accrued at the
92
date of adoption. According to the PRC Tax Administration and
Collection Law, the statute of limitations is three years if the
underpayment of taxes is due to computational errors made by the
taxpayer or the withholding agent. The statute of limitations
will be extended to five years under special circumstances,
which are not clearly defined. In the case of a related party
transaction, the statute of limitation is 10 years. There
is no statute of limitation in the case of tax evasion.
In September 2006, the FASB issued SFAS No. 157,
Fair Value Measurements, or
SFAS No. 157, which defines fair value, establishes a
framework for measuring fair value in generally accepted
accounting principles, and expands disclosures about the fair
value measurements. The provisions of SFAS No. 157
will be effective for us on April 1, 2008. We are currently
evaluating the impact of adopting SFAS No. 157 on our
consolidated financial statements, but we do not expect its
adoption to have a significant transition impact on our
consolidated financial statements.
In November 2006, the FASB issued Emerging Issues Task Force
Issue No. 06-6,
Debtors Accounting for a Modification (or
Exchange) of Convertible Debt Instruments, or
EITF 06-6, which
applies to modifications and exchanges of debt instruments that
(a) either add or eliminate an embedded conversion option
or (b) affect the fair value of an existing embedded
conversion option. Our adoption of
EITF 06-6 on
April 1, 2007 did not have any effect on our financial
position or results of operations.
In February 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 159 The
Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial
Liabilities, or SFAS No. 159, which permits
entities to choose to measure many financial assets and
financial liabilities at fair value. The standard requires that
unrealized gains and losses on items for which the fair value
option has been elected be reports in earnings. The provisions
of SFAS No. 159 will be effective for us on April 1,
2008. We are currently evaluating whether to elect the fair
value option as permitted under SFAS No. 159.
93
INDUSTRY
Chinas Growing Economy and Service Sector
China has one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Chinas National Bureau of Statistics reported that
Chinas annual disposable income per urban resident
increased from $1,028 in 2002 to $1,569 in 2006, representing a
CAGR of 11.1%. As Chinas economy continues to develop, its
service industries are playing an increasingly important role.
The tertiary sector, which is comprised mainly of service
industries, accounted for approximately 39% of Chinas GDP
and employed approximately 32% of Chinas total labor force
in 2006, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China.
Chinas Testing Market
China has one of the worlds largest testing markets in
terms of number of test takers with 122.7 million test
candidates in 2006, up from 112.6 million in 2005,
according to IDC. Testing has played a prominent role in Chinese
society for centuries, with successive Chinese dynasties and
governments regularly administering standardized examinations as
an integral part of selecting members of Chinas civil
service. This long tradition of testing continues today and its
impact extends beyond government and education, with
professional associations and businesses in China also relying
on tests to issue professional licenses and certifications,
assess ongoing professional skills, and select job candidates.
The following graph sets forth total revenues for Chinas
testing market from 2005 to 2010.
China Testing Market Revenue
Source: IDC, China Computer-Based Testing 2006-2010 Forecast and
Analysis
Chinas testing market is broken down into academic testing
and licensure and certification testing. Academic testing
includes tests that students take in conjunction with primary,
secondary and post-secondary education, for example college and
graduate school entrance examinations. Licensure and
certification testing includes the assessment of professional
qualifications and certifications in areas such as teaching,
financial services and IT related certifications, as well as
tests for specialized skills, such as foreign language
proficiency. In addition to academic testing, licensure and
certification testing represents a significant pool of test
takers and a significant portion of the total amount spent on
testing. According to IDC, licensure and certification testing
in China is expected to grow significantly more rapidly than
academic testing over the next several years. According to CEIC
Data Company, Ltd., there were approximately 3.7 million
employees in the banking and insurance industries as of June
2007, and according to Chinas Ministry of Education,
approximately 11.2 million teachers involved in primary and
secondary education throughout China in 2006. As licensure and
certification testing continues to outgrow academic testing, we
expect a corresponding increase in the number of candidates in
the above industries.
94
The following graph sets forth data on test takers in China from
2005 to 2010.
China Testing Market Test Candidates Breakdown
Source: IDC, China Computer-Based Testing 2006-2010 Forecast and
Analysis
Key Trends in Chinas Testing Market
|
|
|
|
|
Increasing number of individuals seeking licensure and
certification. In many industries in China there is a
shortage of highly skilled workers, especially workers who have
proper licenses and qualifications. For example, Chinas
National Bureau of Statistics estimates that in 2006 there were
only 68,000 registered employees in the securities industry in
all of China. According to IDC, the demand and supply gap for
employees with specialized skills will be between
51.8 million and 53.5 million in 2010, leading to
further demand for individuals seeking licensure and
certification. |
|
|
|
|
Increasing use of computer-based testing. As Chinas
economy has modernized and become more dependent on technology,
a growing number of test sponsors have adopted computer-based
tests in place of traditional paper-based tests. Computer-based
tests offer key advantages over traditional paper-based tests,
including easier administration, reduced scoring errors, greater
data security and quicker results analysis. According to IDC,
the ratio of computer-based tests to all tests administered in
China will increase from 21.9% in 2006 to 31.7% in 2010 as
measured by the number of test takers, and from 14.1% to 23.1%
as measured by revenue. |
|
95
The following graph sets forth total revenue and growth rates
for Chinas computer-based testing market from 2005 to 2010.
China Computer-Based Testing Market Revenue
Source: IDC, China Computer-Based Testing 2006-2010 Forecast and
Analysis
|
|
|
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Increasing importance of performance-based testing.
Traditional paper-based tests have limited ability to
evaluate a test takers performance of specific tasks.
Performance-based testing simulates a problem that requires the
test taker to perform a series of hands-on tasks where a test
takers problem-solving skills can be evaluated. An
increasing number of test sponsors in a wide variety of
industries are shifting from standard multiple-choice and
fill-in-the blank tests, to performance-based tests. In
addition, many academic institutions in China are also
increasingly moving towards performance-based testing as a way
to encourage students to learn not only concepts and theory but
also the real-world application of such knowledge to make them
more competitive in the career marketplace. |
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Increasing demand for IT certification tests using
computer-based simulation technology. The demand for IT
education in China is growing rapidly due to the nations
growing IT sector. To meet the increasing need for skilled IT
professionals in China, IT vendors are increasingly relying on
certification programs centered on computer-simulated testing
methods. These programs allow candidates to learn by doing and
to build practical skills and experience through simulated-
environment learning and testing. |
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Increasing demand for outsourced testing services.
Traditionally, the development and delivery of tests have
been handled in-house by education providers or test sponsors.
However, the increasing use of computer-based tests and
performance-based tests in recent years has created challenges
for education providers and test sponsors that have made
in-house test delivery and administration increasingly
difficult. In order to cost-effectively respond to these
challenges, education providers and test sponsors are
increasingly outsourcing the design and delivery of their tests
to third-party service providers. |
The above key trends provide significant growth potential for
computer-based testing service providers in China.
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The following graph shows the expected revenues from
Chinas computer-based test delivery services market from
2005 to 2010.
China Computer-Based Test Delivery Services Market Revenue
Source: IDC, China Computer-Based Testing 2006-2010 Forecast and
Analysis
Three major players, including us, together held more than 75%
of Chinas computer-based testing services market in 2006
in terms of revenue, as shown in the following chart.
2006 Market Share of Major Computer-Based Testing Service
Providers in China
Source: IDC, Computer-Based Testing 2006-2010 Forecast and
Analysis
Chinas Education Market
Chinas education market is experiencing rapid growth both
in terms of the number of schools and the number of students,
especially at the post-secondary higher education level. The
number of students in post-secondary higher education programs
has increased from 12.1 million in 2001 to over
25.0 million in 2006,
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according to Chinas Ministry of Education. Moreover,
spending on education has risen in recent years, as shown in the
graph below.
China National Education Spending
Source: National Bureau of Statistics of the Peoples
Republic of China
As more people enter Chinas job market with higher
education levels, we expect that the competition for higher
paying jobs will become more intense. Workers with comparable
education levels will seek a competitive edge in testing for
professional licenses and certifications. We believe that test
takers in China spend significantly more time and money on test
preparation and learning exercises than on actual test taking.
As the number of tests and the number of test takers continue to
grow in China, we believe that test preparation spending will
continue to enjoy significant growth in the next decade.
Key Trends in Chinas Education Market
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Rapid growth of vocational education. The market for
vocational education in China is expected to grow due to various
demands, including demand from employers for skilled workers,
demand from an increasing number of technical high school and
junior college graduates seeking entry-level employment
positions which require professional licenses and
certifications, and demand from working people who wish to
further their career and salary advancement potential. According
to the Beijing Zhong Jing Zongheng Economic Research
Institution, the career education and management education
markets were valued at approximately $4.3 billion and
$2.0 billion, respectively, in 2004, and are expected to
grow to approximately $39.9 billion and $18.0 billion,
respectively, in 2010. |
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We believe that Chinese vocational education providers are
increasingly looking to source course content and learning
materials from outside providers. In particular, we believe that
an attractive opportunity exists for educational service
providers who can provide effective learning programs that
enable students to better prepare for and attain licenses and
certifications in professions such as the IT industry and other
industries requiring high technical competence or specialized
knowledge and skills. According to the Beijing Zhong Jing
Zongheng Economic Research Institution, Chinas IT training
market is estimated to grow from $533.8 million in 2006 to
$1.3 billion in 2010, representing a CAGR of 25.7%. |
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Emergence of online education and test preparation market.
The rise of Internet use in China is reflected in the
growing number of Internet users in China. According to IDC, the
number of Internet users in China is expected to reach
approximately 150.1 million in 2007 and 196.4 million
in 2011. As Internet usage becomes increasingly common, people
are turning to online resources as a means of furthering their
education and to prepare for |
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various types of tests. Online education and test preparation
provide students the flexibility to take interactive courses at
times and in locations most convenient to them. Online education
and test preparation are particularly attractive to working
adults, and their employers, especially as they seek to combine
work and their pursuit of higher level licenses and
certifications. In addition, the Internet also enables
educational service providers to reach and serve a broader base
of students without substantial incremental costs such as the
additional hiring of more teachers and usage of teaching
facilities. According to the Beijing Zhong Jing Zongheng
Economic Research Institution, Chinas online education
market was valued at approximately $1.9 billion in 2004 and
is expected to grow to $4.0 billion by 2007. |
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BUSINESS
Overview
We are the leading provider of computer-based testing services
in China, with the largest market share, 30.9%, in terms of
revenue in 2006, according to IDC. We also provide
career-oriented, test-based educational programs and test
preparation solutions in China. To comply with PRC law, we
operate the online portion of our test preparation solutions
business through a series of contractual arrangements with ATA
Online (Beijing) Education Technology Limited, or ATA Online, a
PRC entity owned by two of our founders and over which we do not
have direct control or direct oversight. Our clients include
professional associations, such as the China Banking Association
and the Securities Association of China, which accounted for
19.5% and 4.2%, respectively, of our net revenues for the six
months ended September 30, 2007, Chinese governmental
agencies, including the PRC Ministry of Labor, which accounted
for 8.5% of our net revenues for the same period, well-known IT
vendors, Chinese educational institutions, distributors of our
test preparation software products, and individual test
preparation services consumers. During the six months ended
September 30, 2007, approximately two million tests
were delivered using our computer-based testing technologies and
services.
We began providing computer-based testing services in 1999. We
offer comprehensive services for the creation and delivery of
computer-based tests based on our proprietary testing
technologies and test delivery platform. Our computer-based
testing services are used for professional licensure and
certification tests in various industries, including IT
services, banking, teaching, securities, insurance and
accounting. Our test center network comprised 1,810 authorized
test centers located throughout China as of September 30,
2007, which we believe is the largest test center network of any
commercial testing service provider in China based on client
feedback and our market experience. Combined with our test
delivery technologies, this network allows our clients to
administer large-scale nationwide tests in a consistent, secure
and cost-effective manner. We have delivered over
23 million tests since 1999, and in July 2007 delivered
tests to more than 200,000 test takers in a single day for the
China Banking Association, through our test delivery platform.
Leveraging our testing expertise, we have expanded into
providing career-oriented educational services and test
preparation solutions. In 2002, we began offering
career-oriented course programs, which we market to Chinese
educational institutions. We develop our course programs by
integrating our testing technologies and services with IT
learning content authorized by major IT vendors such as
Microsoft China, Borland and Adobe. In March 2006, we began
offering pre-occupational training programs, which allow
students to obtain practical skills for specific job
requirements. By integrating our testing technologies with test
preparation content, we began offering targeted test preparation
solutions for certain professional licensure and certification
tests in the securities, insurance and teaching industries in
2006. ATA Online has launched online test preparation Internet
web sites in coordination with the Securities Association of
China and the China Banking Association to help candidates
across China prepare for these organizations professional
licensure and certification tests, which are delivered through
our test delivery platform. We also offer our NTET Tutorial
Platform software for training teachers for certification under
the National Teachers Skill Test of Applied Educational
Technology in Secondary and Elementary School, or NTET test,
which is delivered nationwide through our test delivery platform.
Our proprietary technologies and know-how for the creation and
delivery of computer-based tests are important to our service
capabilities. Our E-testing platform is composed of a set of
self-developed tools and applications for facilitating the
computer-based testing process, and is capable of handling
large-scale tests and quickly and securely transmitting,
processing and storing large amounts of data. We have also
developed proprietary technologies for the creation and
operation of advanced performance-based tests, such as our
self-developed Dynamic Simulation Technology, which leading IT
certification sponsors, such as Microsoft have adopted for their
computer-simulated tests given around the world. We have also
developed content creation technologies for the conversion of
paper-based tests into computer-based formats.
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Our total net revenues have increased from RMB69.0 million
for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 to
RMB84.9 million ($11.3 million) for the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2007 and from RMB32.4 million for the
six months ended September 30, 2006 to RMB76.2 million
($10.2 million) for the six months ended September 30,
2007. We had net losses of RMB24.8 million and
RMB16.8 million for the fiscal years ended March 31,
2006 and 2007, respectively, and net income of
RMB8.5 million ($1.1 million) for the six months ended
September 30, 2007.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe that the following competitive strengths have been
instrumental in achieving our current market position and
provide the basis for our continued growth:
Early Mover Advantage and Leadership Position in the
Computer-Based Testing Services Industry in China
Testing has played a prominent role in Chinese society for
centuries and continues to factor heavily in Chinas
educational system and professional associations and
businesses assessment of job candidates and their
qualifications. While most tests are still conducted using
traditional pen-and-paper formats, governmental and other test
sponsors have begun migrating tests to computer-based formats.
We began developing and marketing computer-based testing
technologies and services in 1999 to test sponsors to help them
more efficiently, securely and cost-effectively deliver their
computer-based tests. We are also the only Asia-based member of
the Association of Test Publishers, a widely recognized testing
services trade association, which we believe further enhances
our reputation in the testing services market in China.
By entering this market early in China, we have been able to
secure long-standing relationships with many of Chinas
most desirable and prolific test sponsors and become the first
computer-based testing services provider for many of our
clients. Entering this market early is important because many
clients are reluctant to switch testing service providers once
they have chosen one because of a desire to maintain consistency
and stability from year to year in the test delivery format. In
addition, switching testing service providers requires
significant time and costs and often raises concerns about data
security. Consequently, we believe that as long as our testing
platform consistently meets our clients test delivery
requirements, they are likely to continue to use our testing
platform and to focus their testing-related resources on
creating and updating the content of their tests for use with
our testing technologies and test delivery platform.
Ability to Provide Sophisticated and Large-Scale Testing
Services
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Track record of delivering large-scale computer-based
tests. Through years of experience serving major test
sponsors in China, we have developed considerable expertise in
the delivery and administration of large-scale nationwide
computer-based tests. Building upon this expertise, we have
developed an advanced, secure and comprehensive test delivery
platform. According to IDC, in 2006 we were the largest
deliverer of computer-based testing services in China by
revenues. We have delivered over 23 million tests since
1999, and in July 2007 delivered tests to more than 200,000 test
takers in a single day for the China Banking Association,
through our test delivery platform. |
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Extensive test center network and scalable test delivery
platform. Our extensive test center network and E-testing
platform technologies provide the software and hardware
necessary to ensure the stable, cost-effective, secure, accurate
and easy-to-manage delivery of large-scale computer-based tests.
Our nationwide test delivery network, comprised of
1,810 ATA authorized test centers located across China as
of September 30, 2007, provides us with a distinct
competitive advantage over our international and domestic
rivals, none of which possess test center networks in China of
comparable size to ours. We believe that it will be difficult
and costly for others to replicate our nationwide test center
network. Complementing our test center network, our E-testing
platform provides us the technological |
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platform to handle simultaneous delivery of computer-based tests
in multiple locations. Our E-testing platform incorporates a
flexible and customizable set of technologies covering all
stages of the test delivery process from test item compilation
and storage to test scoring and results analysis. Once a
clients test has been customized for delivery through our
E-testing platform, we can increase the size and volume of tests
delivered easily and at relatively low additional costs. We
believe that the large and increasing scale of our
computer-based test delivery platform combined with its
reputation for reliability, stability and flexibility in the
testing market in China, provides a significant barrier to entry
for potential competitors. |
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Flexible and customizable testing services. Our
computer-based testing technologies and services are designed to
maximize flexibility and adaptability, which allows us to
customize our services to meet each clients specific
testing needs. The long history and diversity of Chinas
testing market make standardization of testing platforms and
formats difficult in China. As a result, flexibility and
customization in testing services and test delivery platform are
important in Chinas testing services market. Our
E-testing platform is
composed of a standardized core testing software
system around which we have developed customizable parameters
that may be configured to meet each clients specific
needs. Using our
E-testing platform as
the basis, we work closely with each test sponsor client to
develop a customized service plan that matches their technical
and performance requirements. The flexibility of our
technologies and services are especially important to clients
with multiple test requirements, as they can use our testing
platform for their various computer-based testing needs. |
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Advanced performance-based testing and test security
technologies. We have developed proprietary technologies as
well as sophisticated and flexible software applications for the
development and delivery of advanced performance-based tests.
Our Dynamic Simulation Technology for the creation and operation
of performance-based tests with computer-simulated environments
has been licensed by Microsoft since 2003 for use with Microsoft
Learning Products and Microsoft Certified Professional Exams
delivered globally. As of September 30, 2007, approximately
390,000 Microsoft Certified Professional Exams had been
delivered around the world using our proprietary testing
technologies and interface. We also offer specialized test
security systems that combine traditional communication security
techniques, such as the separation of test content into data
fragments, with the use of cutting-edge data security
technologies, such as encrypted data, digital algorithms and
electronic authorization keys, which we believe are among the
most advanced in the global computer-based testing services
market. We believe that computer-based test sponsors are
concerned with test data security and that our test security
technologies and systems are recognized as meeting the highest
standards in the industry. |
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Established Relationships with Key Test Sponsors and
Leading IT Vendors
Client relationships are critical to our success and we continue
to strengthen our collaborative relationships with key clients,
including since 2000 the PRC Ministry of Labor, for which we
have delivered 472,761, 649,406 and 394,374 tests in the fiscal
years ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 and the six months
ended September 30, 2007, respectively. We have also
developed relationships with other Chinese governmental
institutions that sponsor tests, such as the Ministry of
Education, with which we have worked to develop our
career-oriented course programs since 2002 and more recently our
NTET Tutorial Platform software. In addition, we have developed
relationships with various key professional services
organizations, such as the Securities Association of China, the
China Futures Association, the China Banking Association and the
Insurance Association of China.
Beginning with Microsoft in 2002, we have entered into
cooperation agreements with leading IT vendors, such as Adobe,
Borland, Corel, Digital China, H3C, Trend Micro and Turbolinux,
for the development of performance-based and application-driven
educational programs and tests. Our deep knowledge of
career-oriented education content acquired through our
relationships with leading IT vendors
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and with test sponsors has provided us with the ability to
create career-oriented educational programs curricula designed
to teach practical skill sets and effectively assess the
students application of these skill sets.
Experienced Management Team
We have an international management team with extensive
experience in computer-based testing, education services and
software development. Several members of our senior management
team have significant experience working with Chinese
governmental agencies and several have worked with leading
companies in the computer-based testing and education
industries, such as Microsoft Learning, Pearson VUE and
Prometric. The combination of skills and experience of our
senior management team has allowed us to solidify our
relationships with a diverse group of clients ranging from
Chinese governmental ministries to the worlds leading IT
vendors to academic institutions and other organizations in
China.
Our Strategy
Our mission is to extend our position as the leading provider of
computer-based testing services in China, and expand our
career-oriented educational programs and test preparation
solutions in China, by pursuing the following strategies:
Continue to Seek Opportunities in Licensure and
Certification Testing Services
As Chinas economy and service sector continue to develop,
governmental agencies, industry associations and private
business are increasingly using licensure and certification
tests to identify qualified professionals. We believe the number
of people seeking careers in professions that require licensure
and certification is growing, and will continue to grow,
rapidly. In order to certify increasing numbers of people, the
number and scale of licensure and certification tests will
continue to grow, which offers us an opportunity to expand into
additional industries requiring licensure and certification. We
will continue to identify industries where traditional licensure
and certification tests can be adapted to our computer-based
testing methods to leverage our computer-based testing expertise
and technologies and our extensive test delivery network. We
actively promote computer-based testing and our services to
sponsors of traditional-format tests by educating them about the
benefits of computer-based testing. In addition, we will
continue to seek opportunities in industries that will require
progressively advanced levels of licensure and certifications,
such as different levels of certifications for securities,
banking or insurance industry professionals. We believe that
such additional levels of licensure and certifications will
increase both the number of tests delivered through our test
delivery platform as well as bring additional users to ATA
Onlines Internet test preparation web sites.
Further Enhance Our Technology and Expand Our Test Center
Network Reach
Our test content creation and delivery technologies are
important components of our products, services and market
leadership. We will continuously upgrade our test content
creation technologies and delivery systems in order to provide
best-in-class testing services at competitive prices to our
clients. In addition to periodically updating our E-testing
platform technology, we are working on the commercial
implementation of advanced testing technologies, such as speech
recognition engines and more advanced simulation of real
environments. We plan to incorporate these technologies into our
service offerings as well as to license certain advanced
technologies to leading international IT vendors and test
preparation companies. We also intend to promote our
self-developed computer-based testing interface technology and
data specification standards as industry standards. At the same
time, to respond to the rapidly increasing demand by Chinese
test sponsors for nationwide, large-scale tests, we will
continue to expand our network of authorized test centers,
especially in smaller cities and less developed provinces of
China.
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Leverage Our Testing Service Strengths to Expand Our Test
Preparation and Educational Program Offerings
We believe that people spend significantly more time and money
on test preparation and learning exercises than on actual test
taking. Moreover, we believe that the importance attached to
tests and test results in China encourages people to spend
significant amounts of time and money to seek advantages over
other test takers. Our experience and leadership position in
providing computer-based testing services provides us with an
effective platform from which to expand our service offerings
into test preparation and educational services.
ATA Online launched online test preparation Internet web sites
in coordination with the Securities Association of China in
November 2006 to help the large number of candidates across
China prepare for professional licensure and certification tests
conducted by this professional association that are delivered
using our testing technologies and platform. We launched a
similar web site in coordination with the China Banking
Association in July 2007 and plan to launch online test
preparation solutions for insurance and futures certification
tests in early 2008. We also plan to offer new services for
teachers preparing for the NTET test and add upgrades to our
NTET Tutorial Platform through our web site. Leveraging our
experience in developing software programs for our NTET Tutorial
Platform, we plan to offer similar software programs to junior
and middle schools for use in relation to courses and tests
given to students. In relation to our educational service
offerings, which are currently aimed at students majoring in
IT-related subjects, we plan to develop career-oriented course
programs for students preparing for careers in the financial
services industries, including securities, futures, banking and
insurance. Our goal is to leverage our relationships with key
test sponsors to provide comprehensive services along the entire
education value chain, from learning to test preparation to
testing.
Increase Recognition of our ATA Brand
As we expand our test preparation solutions, our brand, which we
believe is currently well-recognized among test sponsors and
educational institutions, will become increasingly critical to
our success. We intend to establish the ATA name as the leading
provider of quality computer-based testing and test preparation
solutions in China. We believe our familiarity with testing
procedures and test content will allow us to establish our
market credibility and position us favorably as a leading test
preparation solutions provider. We promote wider recognition of
our ATA brand among test takers by placing our logo
prominently outside ATA authorized test centers and in test and
course program materials. We also engage in on-campus marketing
activities through prominently placed marketing materials, such
as posters and other advertising means.
Pursue Selective Strategic Acquisitions and
Alliances
We believe that selective acquisitions of and alliances with
complementary businesses can further broaden our service
offerings, attract additional clients and strengthen our service
quality. We intend to seek acquisition and alliance
opportunities in the areas of testing, test preparation and
education that can enhance the scope of our products and
services. We intend to pursue any acquisitions and alliances
with prudence and only consider opportunities that are
strategically complementary and can add long-term value to our
shareholders.
Our Products and Services
Our primary product and service offerings currently include:
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computer-based testing development and delivery, which includes
our computer-based test delivery platform and services, our ATA
authorized test center network and our test content creation
technologies and services; |
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career-oriented educational services, which include single
course programs, degree major course programs and
pre-occupational training programs; and |
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test preparation solutions, which include test preparation and
training platforms for the securities and banking industries and
test preparation software for the teaching industry. |
Computer-Based Testing Development and Delivery
We have developed a series of technologies and service solutions
for the development and delivery of computer-based tests. Our
comprehensive E-testing platform integrates all aspects of the
test delivery process for computer-based tests, from test form
compilation to test scoring and results analysis. Our test
delivery services are further enhanced by our nation-wide
network of test centers, which allows us to deliver tests on a
large scale in a consistent, secure and cost-effective manner.
By combining our advanced test content creation technologies
with our test delivery platform and network of test centers, we
can offer our clients a comprehensive and integrated solution to
enhance the effectiveness of the entire testing process, as
shown in the following diagram.