On October 25th, New Oriental released its first quarter report for the fiscal year 2024 as of August 31, 2023. Q1 revenue was $1.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 47.7%, and net profit was $165 million, a year-on-year increase of 150.6%. The performance exceeded our expected maximum range, "Yu Minhong said in the financial report.
New Oriental stated in its financial report that the growth in revenue is mainly driven by the new education business, the self operated products selected by Oriental, and the live streaming e-commerce business. Among them, the revenue from new education businesses increased by 103.3% year-on-year, becoming one of the key driving forces for revenue growth and profit margin improvement.
Yu Minhong revealed that in the new education business, New Oriental's non disciplinary tutoring courses are currently available in about 60 cities and attracted 438000 students in the first quarter, an increase of 47% from 297000 in the same period last year. Intelligent learning systems and devices have also been adopted in 60 cities, with 181000 active paying users in this fiscal quarter, a year-on-year increase of 38%.
In addition, New Oriental's traditional education business also shows strong signs of recovery, with overseas exam preparation and overseas study consulting business increasing by approximately 51.7% and 26.6% year-on-year in the first quarter. The domestic exam preparation business for adults and college students increased by approximately 25.5% year-on-year.
As of August 31, 2023, the total number of schools and learning centers at New Oriental was 793, an increase of 87 compared to the same period last year. New Oriental CEO Zhou Chenggang mentioned that, In this fiscal year, we have started to expand moderately in some cities with high growth potential, equipment utilization, and profitability. Additionally, we have continued to invest in maintaining the OMO teaching system to support the recovery of remaining key businesses and the rapid development of new education businesses. We have also invested certain resources in researching and applying new technologies to education and products to enhance our strength, pursue higher quality services, and operational efficiency
At the analyst meeting, Yang Zhihui, CEO and CFO of New Oriental, revealed that starting from this fiscal year, New Oriental will integrate a new business line, including tourism related businesses targeting different age groups, covering both student research camps and the newly established middle-aged and elderly cultural and tourism business. He mentioned that during the summer, New Oriental conducted learning tours and research camps in more than 50 cities across the country, resulting in growth in its research, cultural, and tourism business. It is expected that the new business will contribute revenue in this fiscal year. However, Yang Zhihui also admitted, "Currently, the tourism business is relatively in its early stages
Zhou Chenggang also highlighted the live streaming e-commerce business in his financial report. In the first quarter, Dongfang Zhenxuan adopted a multi-platform strategy to reach a wider consumer group and made significant progress in live streaming e-commerce. During the reporting period, Dongfang Zhenxuan officially broadcasted on Taobao and its own apps, and continued to launch self operated new products, covering food, beverage, and daily necessities. At present, Dongfang Selection has over 120 types of self operated products. According to the goal proposed by Yu Minhong in the APP live broadcast, Dongfang Selection plans to reach 400-500 types of self operated products by the end of 2024.
Previously, Dongfang Zhenxuan's annual report for the 2023 fiscal year showed a total revenue of 4.51 billion yuan, a net profit of 971 million yuan, and a total GMV of 10 billion yuan with goods. Among them, the total revenue of self operated products exceeded 2.6 billion yuan, and the gross profit reached 1.5 billion yuan. However, the rapid development of self operated products has also increased the cost burden of Dongfang Zhenxuan. In the 2023 fiscal year, Dongfang Zhenxuan's total operating revenue increased by 1118.6% year-on-year to 2.6 billion yuan, and its gross profit margin decreased by 21.8 percentage points year-on-year, only 43.3%. Both changes were due to the significant growth of self operated products and live streaming e-commerce business.
In the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year, New Oriental's operating costs and expenses were $895 million, a year-on-year increase of 34.2%. Among them, operating costs increased by 32% year-on-year to $855 million. The company stated that this was due to the continuous growth of Dongfang Selection's self operated products and live streaming e-commerce business. In addition, during the reporting period, New Oriental's sales and marketing expenses, general and administrative expenses were $136 million and $318 million, respectively, an increase of 37.9% and 24% year-on-year.
In the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, New Oriental's operating activities generated a cash inflow of $336 million, investment activities generated a net cash outflow of $208 million, and financing activities generated a net cash outflow of $12.99 million. As of August 31, 2023, New Oriental's cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash balance was $1.89 billion. In addition, the company also has $1.397 billion in fixed deposits and $1.424 billion in short-term investments.
According to the financial report, according to New Oriental's share repurchase plan on July 26, 2022, from July 28, 2022 to May 31, 2023, no more than $400 million in American depositary receipts or ordinary shares will be repurchased. The plan is extended until May 31, 2024. As of October 24, 2023, New Oriental has repurchased approximately 6 million American depositary receipts for approximately $193 million.
As of the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, the company's deferred income was $1.401 billion, an increase of 38.4% compared to $1.013 billion in the same period last year. New Oriental expects a total revenue of 785-804.2 million US dollars in the second quarter of the 2024 fiscal year, a year-on-year increase of 23% -26%.
As of October 25, 2023, New Oriental closed at $64.59 per share, up 2.85%, with a total market value of $10.613 billion.