Tycoon Eusebio Tanco's STI Education Systems Holdings, one of the country's biggest private school chains, saw profits surge nearly 300 percent in the first half 2022 as student enrollments bounced back in the postpandemic period.

In a stock exchange filing on Thursday, the company said net income from July to December last year reached P223.4 million from P56 million in 2021.

Like other school operators, STI's fiscal year starts on July 1 of every calendar year and ends on June 30 of the following year.

Enrollments during the period soared 17 percent to 41,565 as strict pandemic rules were rolled back in early 2022.

Revenues during the year also rose 28 percent to P1.2 billion, said the company.

STI said it earned more during the year because students choose higher margin education programs.

"The improvement in enrollment mix also contributed to the profitability because more students enrolled in programs regulated by Commission on Higher Education (CHEd)," STI said.

The enrollment in these programs showed "a robust 18 percent increase from 56,342 students last school year to 66,309 this school year which is notably higher than prepandemic levels."

STI also recorded earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of P607.2 million. These 45 percent higher than the P419.1 million registered during the same period last year.

STI was established in 1983 mainly to train Filipinos with computer programming and other information technology-related skills. A decade later, it obtained a license from CHEd to operate colleges, which allowed the group to diversify and offer programs such as business and management, engineering, healthcare, hospitality management, tourism management, arts and sciences, and education.

The group has 63 operating schools across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, its latest annual report showed. —Miguel R. Camus INQ