Tuition firm aims to build hotel to fit with courses

Hong Kong Education International is planning to build a hotel in three to five years to support programmes offered at three tertiary institutions it is acquiring a stake in.

The Hong Kong-listed company, which runs tuition schools, yesterday announced its plan to buy a 47 per cent stake in tertiary education service provider Seasoned Leader for HK$47 million.

"Impacted by the new education system, the number of repeaters has dropped a lot, affecting our income from secondary students," chief operating officer and executive director Ignatius Lee Wai-lok said. "To cover the loss of revenue, we want to expand our business scope to tertiary education."

Hong Kong Education will purchase the 47 per cent stake from three shareholders. It said it had paid a HK$10 million deposit and would settle the rest of the payment by cash by the end of September. It plans to increase its stake to 51 per cent later.

The company said it expected Seasoned Leader to achieve an annual profit of at least HK$12 million for the next two years, meaning that it could pocket about HK$5.64 million a year from its 47 per cent share.

Seasoned Leader provides higher education services and vocational training in Hong Kong. Its subsidiaries operate the Institute of Hotel Management, Compass College and Bridal Academy, which offer hotel management-, tourism- and wedding-related education services.