Hartcourt Announces Informal Shareholder Discussion Sessions on New Business Opportunity Friday June 30, 6:30 am ET
SHANGHAI, CHINA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jun 30, 2006 -- The Hartcourt Companies, Inc. (OTC BB:HRCT.OB - News) (Frankfurt:900009.F - News) today announced that Dr. Yungeng Hu, President and CFO, and Dr. Billy Wang, Chairman of Board of Directors, will hold shareholder discussion sessions in New York City on July 29th and in San Francisco on August 2nd. The session will include presentation on new business opportunity and Q&A. Locations and times are the following:
ADVERTISEMENT 10-12 am, July 29, 2006, Grand Hyatt New York, Park Avenue at Grand Central Terminal, New York, New York, USA 10017;
6-8 pm, August 2, 2006, Grand Hyatt San Francisco, 345 Stockton Street, San Francisco, California, USA 94108.
After reviewing Hartcourt's current business condition, its competitive edge, and opportunities in China, the new management team has submitted to the Board of Directors a two-year business plan. Going forward, the Company plans to focus on post-secondary education market in China to take advantage of the on-going demand of skilled workers and growing post-secondary age population. According to the Ministry of Education (MOE), 29 million students will reach college age in the next 5 years, a 40% increase and a US$36 billion market. While MOE-controlled universities and colleges still maintain dominant market share, the field is now open for private and foreign investment capital. In addition, MOE has set a timeline to privatize all vocational schools and educational institutions that offer degrees lower than Bachelor by 2010.
Hartcourt will adopt an aggressive strategy to develop its educational operation assets by acquiring existing schools, especially those ones which were built around, or used the faculty capacity of, the MOE universities and colleges. These schools, usually vocational and technical oriented, generate good profit margins and excellent cash flows. Their graduates are trained for technical or skilled job positions, and are in need for the operation lines of fast growing China manufacturing sector. Dr. Yungeng Hu, the new President and CFO will take the lead to execute the new business model.
Dr. Hu comments, "We believe China's post-secondary market is one of the largest and fastest growing segments of China's economy. The business is attractive thanks to strong enrollment growth, repetitive tuition revenue nature and consolidation trend. Hartcourt is well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity and the strategy will deliver strong return to our shareholders."
"M&A skills, debt re-structuring and cash-flow based financing instruments are among the key prerequisites of the success of this business model," said Dr. Hu, a well-known turning-around expert in China. In the past, Dr. Hu represented private equity firms that successfully managed acquisition, restructuring and operation of several high profile companies in China, including Hyatt Hotel Hangzhou which was reported and quoted widely in websites. As the Managing Director, CLSA Ltd., the Investment Banking arm of Credit Agrico Asia Pacific, in its Shanghai office, Dr Hu was in charge of M&A, equity capital markets and China operations.
In order to communicate with shareholders, clarify the new business opportunity and potential prospects that it will generate, the management team decided to have above mentioned informal shareholder discussion sessions. "Hartcourt's new management team commit to be open and transparent with shareholders, and build sustainable returns to its shareholders," said Dr. Billy Wang, the Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The presentation and Q&A will be posted on Hartcourt Website after the discussion sessions.
About Hartcourt
Hartcourt's achievements and operations can be found on its web site: www.hartcourt.com
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