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CFCG Announces 2018 Interim Results Enhances Market Penetration Builds an Education Investment Bank with Distinctive Characteristics

2018.08.30

(Hong Kong,30 August 2018) China First Capital Group Limited (“CFCG”,or the “Group”, stock code: 1269.HK) is pleased to announce its unaudited interim consolidated results for the six months ended 30 June 2018. During the period under review, the Group’s revenue amounted to RMB1,017 million. As at 30 June 2018, the Group’s total assets was RMB10.15 billion and its equity attributable to owners was RMB3.12 billion.

During the period under review, CFCG has continued to diversify its business, with education investment as cornerstone, financial services and education operation as support. The combination of the three key operations enables the Group to achieve a balancing development. The Group aspires to build a platform for education industry operation and investment and financing, powered by a dual-pronged strategy of “Education Operation and Financial Services”.

Regarding education operation and investment business, the Group entered into a joint venture agreement with MindChamps Preschool (stock code: CNE.SI), the largest operator and franchisor of premium range preschool centres in Singapore, to establish a fund and a joint venture, in order to establish and acquire preschools in China and operate them under the brand name of “MindChamps”. The Group entered into an amended and restated agreement to acquire 10% of the total issued shares of SJW International, the first provider of online adult English video courses in Korea. SJW International owns a well-known online education brand “Siwon School”. At the same time, in order to seize future business opportunities in the UK and further expand the Group’s footprint in education operation business, the Group subscribed for 49.0% of KSI Education’s enlarged total issued shares. The business plan is to engage in exploring, cultivating, investing in and operating of high-quality education resources around the globe (the UK in particular), and adapt such resources to the China’s education market. The Group also strengthened the operations management and financial management of its invested educational projects, provided diversified value-added services, which improved both the scale and quality of its education businesses. In the meantime, the Group actively developed its characteristic education such as football, martial arts, sports and pure arts. During the summer break of 2018, the Group, in collaboration with British and American school partners, organized various summer camps for its domestic schools, allowing Chinese students to experience different education and teaching environment. The camps also demonstrated to Chinese students about the teaching concepts and methods of popular foreign courses.

During the review period, the Group’s financial services business grew rapidly. The Group capitalized through the Group’s advantages of having diversified financial licenses, to actively develop its respective businesses. FC Securities, during the period under review, were engaged in the listing of Bojun Education (stock code: 1758), Kinergy Corporation (stock code: 3302), China Xinhua Education (stock code: 2779), Top Education (stock code: 1752), 21st Century Education (stock code: 1598), Hope Education (stock code:1765), Shanshan Brand (stock code: 1749), BExcellent Group ( stock code: 1775), and acted as an underwriter for the Zhongrui Industrial Group’s issuance of US$ senior notes. As of 31 July 2018, FC Securities was parallelly ranked the 12th on Bloomberg’s list of securities dealers by IPO underwriting business in Hong Kong in 2018 in terms of the number of projects underwriting, and it was ranked the 28th in 2018 in terms of the amount of IPO proceeds raised. Leveraging the Group’s strategy of whole industry chain in education industry, FC Securities features educational finance, focuses on the education industry while taking other areas into account. From the commencement of FC Securities to the date of this announcement, a total of 12 education enterprises had been listed through IPO on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange, in which FC Securities was engaged in 9 underwriting projects, with a coverage of 75%.

Regarding fund management, First Capital Education Selected Fund which is under the management of FC Asset Management focused on equity and debt investment in the education industry and was in a satisfactory manner. FC Asset Management is currently preparing to issue the MindChamps-First Capital PreSchool China Fund and First Capital Multi-Series Fund SPC. FC Equity successfully issued First Capital (Shenzhen) Education Industry Equity Investment Fund. The FC Fund has managed a number of funds, including: Wuxi Guolian First Capital Equity Investment Fund Center (Limited Partnership) for which the FC Fund serves as manager. The FC Fund also invested in Bojun Education (Stock Code: 1758) in 2016, which was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange in July 2018. At the same time, Sub-fund No.1 of Chongqing First Capital Cultural Investment Equity Investment Fund (Limited Partnership), for which the FC Fund also serves as manager, acquired a 65% equity interest in Edukeys Group. In August 2018, the Group acquired 100% equity interest, after which it became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the First Capital Group. Edukeys Group is a group of international educational institutions devoting to professional education consulting services. The business of Edukeys Group covers development, operation and management of international education products.

Given the growing interest of capital markets in the education industry and the booming development of private education sector in China, leveraging the strategy of whole industry chain of CFCG in education industry, the Group’s financial service business is with abundant resources, high brand recognition and market influence. Following the trend of educational projects being listed, the Group will seek to unleash the synergy between its financial services business and education operation business. The Group will intensively explore the demand of customers, give full play to the advantages of its diversified financial licenses, establish First Capital Financial Group Limited, and build a boutique investment bank with distinctive characteristics, engage in cornerstone investment and secondary market investment in listed education projects appropriately, to establish the leading position of the Group in the education finance industry.

Dr. Wilson Sea, the Group’s chairman and executive director, feels that along with the rise of the middle class in mainland China, the overall market demand for quality education has become a pressing issue. Moreover, due to the sufficient facilities and conditions provided by China’s private education and its policies, the education market outlook in China looks promising. The Group’s unique “Education Operation + Financial Services” operative model still distinguishes it in the mainland market. The rich trove of resources and the generally mutually supportive education enterprises that currently exist have enabled the Group to become both an integrated and comprehensive platform for educational and financial resources. The Group has always taken the long-term view when formulating developmental blueprints and strategies, as well as creating new sources for profit growth in order to maximise shareholder interests and value.