China Distance Education Holdings Limited (DL) has reported 9.54 percent fall in profit for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2016. The company has earned $12.22 million, or $0.09 a share in the quarter, compared with $13.52 million, or $0.09 a share for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $12.73 million, or $0.10 a share compared with $14.02 million or $0.10 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter grew 7.48 percent to $38.24 million from $35.58 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 58 basis points over the previous year period to 65.78 percent. Total expenses were 61.86 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 57.60 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 427 basis points in operating margin to 38.14 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $14.58 million, compared with $15.09 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted operating income for the quarter stood at $15.09 million compared to $15.59 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted operating margin contracted 437 basis points in the quarter to 39.45 percent from 43.82 percent in the last year period.

Mr. Zhengdong Zhu, chairman and chief executive officer of CDEL, said, "We are pleased to finish the fiscal year by exceeding our quarterly and full year guidance ranges, recording net revenue of $38.2 million in the fourth quarter and $117.5 million in fiscal 2016, representing year-over-year growth of 7.5% and 8.7%, respectively. Revenue growth from our accounting and engineering and construction verticals, books and reference materials and Xiamen NetinNet together contributed to our fourth quarter performance."
 

For the first-quarter, China Distance Education Holdings expects revenue to be in the range of $28 million to $29.20 million.