Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

And your other question, we are tracking towards our internal plan. Instructional was increased, but we were budgeted to increase. And the good news, a lot of that was due to our increased population and merit increases. And marketing, actually our marketing was down from our original budget simply because there’s delays in some of our program replications. Since it got delayed, we cut back the marketing there. But even though we were over for the year, we were on plan with that. And as I think I said in my prepared remarks, marketing is still doing very well. You know, we had flat costs for start, so we’re not paying a lot more for that. We’re not paying more for that incremental for students.

Raj Sharma: And should we see the operating expenses again in the mid-90s going forward every quarter?

Scott Shaw: Yes, we’ll put out, you know, for next quarter our guidance. But yes, we’re still transitioning to our hybrid model. So we’ll still have some costs there. So the savings won’t be as material for 2024. And similar with our rollout of our new financial aid model. We’re probably not going to experience the savings in 2024 as well.

Raj Sharma: Got it. And then just following, just moving on the two campuses, the Atlanta campus and then the Houston 1, could you talk about, so we should start to see first quarter, second quarter, and the new year would be the start of Atlanta enrollments. Can you give an idea of what sort of revenues and EBITDA contribution you’re expecting from Atlanta and then relative to that, the Houston, is that — that’s largely primarily only in auto and industrial school? And is that a similar sort of a top line and bottom line contribution?

Scott Shaw: Yes, so basically both reflect the new model that we have for new campuses, Raj. So as we said and as we lay out an investor presentation, these campuses should ramp up to low-20s in million dollars of revenue and about $5 million of EBITDA about three years or so after opening up, 3 to 3.5 years after opening up. So we anticipate that to be the same. Yes, they are both focused on automotive and skilled trades. Basically these new models, these new campuses, we’ve taken the best of what we’ve got as far as highest profitable programs and greatest demand for those marketplaces. So they really should serve those areas well and as we say and as I just said it will be low-20s in revenue and about $5 million to $6 million EBITDA each once they’re up and running.

Raj Sharma: Right. And this week we’ll have a new Q3 investor presentation and you’ll see the new updated Atlanta model included in there for 2024? So 2024, it’ll have minor growth in revenue, not growth, and not too robust revenue, and it’ll have EBITDA losses, which will be added back the first year of opening in our adjusted EBITDA, and used them all to have no revenue next year, that will open up in 2025?

Scott Shaw: And I do want to add Philadelphia is almost like a new campus. Today Philadelphia, excuse me, is our only campus with one program and that’s automotive. And we’ve been serving the Philadelphia market for over 60-years. When we move to the new facility, and that starts up and running in the first-half of 2025, we’ll have the benefit of having an electrical program, an HVAC program, and a welding program, as well to complement the auto. And as I said, we’ve been in that market for 60-years, good name brand recognition, and we know from our research that those three additional programs are in strong demand. So it’s almost like opening up another new campus, frankly, in that marketplace.

Raj Sharma: Great, great. Thank you for answering my questions. I’ll take this offline. Thank you. Good luck.

Scott Shaw: Thanks. Appreciate it.

Brian Meyers: Thank you, Raj.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. And I am showing no further questions from our phone lines. I’d like to turn the conference back over to Scott Shaw for any closing remarks.