Amy Tung
谢谢，Carolyne。欢迎大家。向美国的各位问好，晚上好。感谢大家抽出时间。
对于正在观看演示文稿的各位，我将从第5页开始，该页列出了2019年第三季度的运营亮点。
在上一次电话会议中，我们提到已完成对北京环球艺盟教育咨询股份有限公司（简称"环球艺盟"）87.46%股权的收购，该公司是中国领先的为有意申请海外留学的学生提供教育服务的机构。2019年10月17日，我们公司有幸访问纳斯达克市场中心并敲响了开市钟。当天，公司宣布完成对环球艺盟剩余12.54%股权的收购。因此，环球艺盟现已成为ACG的全资子公司。有关此次收购的详细信息可在ACG于2019年8月6日和2019年10月17日提交的6-K表格中找到。
9月，在我们的年度股东大会上，股东批准了公司更名为ATA Creativity Global。公司的股票代码也更改为AACG，其美国存托凭证自2019年10月17日市场开盘起开始以新代码交易。我们做出这些改变是为了标志着公司进入新时代的开始，以我们首次对环球艺盟的重大收购为起点。随着此次收购的完成，我们将开始按季度与投资界分享某些运营指标。对于第三季度，需要注意的是，这些结果仅包括环球艺盟从2019年8月6日至9月30日期间的业绩，因为8月6日是ACG获得该公司控制权的日期。
我们一直与环球艺盟密切合作，将其所有现有人员和流程整合到ACG的运营中，并已基本完成这一过程。正如您在第6页看到的，我们希望通过利用我们业务的经济实力投资教育资源，扩大与机构的合作伙伴关系，同时增加项目化产品和服务。通过这样做，我们打算在2020年加速环球艺盟的招生增长战略。
鉴于这是自收购完成以来的首次季度电话会议，我们想概述一下我们打算向投资者提供的未来指标。我们评估了作为管理者定期预算的内容，并概述了特别有洞察力的统计数据。首先是学分学时，我们将其定义为衡量环球艺盟作品集培训项目教育学分的标准单位。每个学分学时大致相当于1小时的投入时间。第二个数字是学生注册人数，这考虑了报名参加我们项目的特定个人。例如，如果一名学生同时报名作品集培训和教育旅行服务，该学生将被计算两次注册人数，即一次作为作品集培训学生，一次作为其他项目学生。
环球艺盟在第三季度部分期间交付的学分学时实现了16.1%的同比增长，总计交付34,988个学分学时。该期间的学生注册人数为838人，其中550人报名参加了作品集培训项目，这是环球艺盟的主要业务线，主要包括针对艺术和创意研究领域学生的一对一培训。您将在第7页看到该期间交付的学分学时与去年同期相比的细分情况。
作品集培训项目包括基于时间的项目和基于项目的项目。选择基于时间项目的学生在合同期限内报名参加一定数量的咨询或培训小时数，而选择基于项目项目的学生则不受咨询或培训小时数的限制。相反，他们将通过完成作品集所需的一定数量的项目进行指导，这些项目将在签订合同时预先确定并达成一致。在基于项目的项目下，完成一个项目所需的学分学时数可能因学生的背景和要求而异。
随着我们执行环球艺盟的增长计划，我们预计将评估未来作品集培训和其他业务部门的注册增长情况。
转到第8页和关键财务亮点。与我刚才分享的注册和学分学时信息一样，这里分享的财务数据仅包括环球艺盟从2019年8月6日至9月30日第三季度部分期间的贡献。
该期间的总净收入增至4,240万元人民币，而2018年第三季度为100万元人民币，这主要得益于环球艺盟业务收购带来的收入贡献，主要包括其作品集培训部门的收入。2019年第三季度的毛利率为39.1%，而去年同期为负46%的毛利率，当时公司没有实质性运营。
该期间归属于ACG的持续经营净亏损为2,440万元人民币，而去年同期为890万元人民币，主要原因是运营费用增加。这包括新收购的环球艺盟运营带来的2,680万元人民币更高的销售、一般及行政费用，以及增加的运营费用，包括与环球艺盟收购相关的150万元人民币专业和咨询费用，以及更高的180万元人民币股份薪酬费用。
最后，我们继续保持稳健的财务状况，拥有1,470万美元的现金及现金等价物。
我们在第9页和第10页提供了第三季度和年初至今与各自去年同期相比的财务结果的更详细摘要。然而，正如我之前提到的，去年同期反映了公司没有实质性运营时的财务状况。
我们在第11页提供了关于我们资本状况和资产负债表的更多细节。此处显示的信息确实考虑了环球艺盟收购的完成情况。截至2019年9月30日，营运资本赤字为1,970万美元，股东权益总额为4,340万美元，而截至2018年12月31日，营运资本为2,820万美元，股东权益为4,020万美元。我们相信，我们有能力利用内部资本执行多项增长计划。
现在，我想请Kevin来详细阐述我们的展望和增长战略。Kevin？
Amy Tung
Thank you, Carolyne. And welcome, everyone. Good evening to those in America. We appreciate everyone's time.
To those of you following along with the presentation, I will begin on Slide 5, which lists reads operating highlights for the third quarter of 2019.
On our previous call, we had noted that we had closed the acquisition of 87.46% equity interest in Beijing Huanqiuyimeng Education Consultant Corp., or Huanqiuyimeng, a leading provider of educational services for students in China interested in applying for overseas studies. On October 17, 2019, our company had the pleasure of visiting the NASDAQ MarketSite and ringing the opening bell. That day, the company announced the closing of the acquisition of the remaining 12.54% equity interest in Huanqiuyimeng. As a result, Huanqiuyimeng is now a wholly owned subsidiary of ACG. Details on this acquisition can be found in the Forms 6-K filed by ACG on August 6, 2019, and October 17, 2019.
In September, at our Annual General Meeting, shareholders approved the company's name change to ATA Creativity Global. The company's stock ticker symbol also changed to AACG with its American depositary shares commencing trading under the new symbol as of market open on October 17, 2019. We made these changes to signify the ushering in of a new era for the company, beginning with our first major acquisition of Huanqiuyimeng. With the completion of this acquisition, we will begin sharing certain operating metrics with the investment community on a quarterly basis. For the third quarter, it is important to note that these results only include those from Huanqiuyimeng from August 6 through September 30, 2019, as August 6 is the date that ACG assumed control of the company.
We have been working closely with Huanqiuyimeng to integrate all of its existing personnel and processes into ACG's operations and have essentially completed this process. As you can see on Slide 6, we are looking to expand partnerships with institutions while adding programmatic offerings and services by leveraging the economic strength of our business with investments in education resources. By doing so, we intend to accelerate Huanqiuyimeng's enrollment growth strategy in 2020.
Given this is the first quarterly call we have had since the closing, we wanted to outline the metrics we intend to provide investors going forward. We evaluated what we, as managers, budget for on a regular basis and outline what are particularly insightful statistics. First is credit hours, which we define as the standard unit measuring educational credit for Huanqiuyimeng's Portfolio Training Program. Each credit hour translates into roughly 1 hour of time committed. The second figure is student enrollment, which takes into account the particular individual that signs up for our programs. For example, if a student enrolls in both portfolio training and educational travel services, the student is counted twice in enrollment as one student in portfolio training and one student in other programs.
Huanqiuyimeng achieved 16.1% year-over-year growth in credit hours delivered during the partial third quarter, delivering a total of 34,988 credit hours. Student enrollment for the period was 838, out of which 550 were enrolled in the Portfolio Training Program, Huanqiuyimeng's main line of business that primarily consists of one-on-one training for students focused in arts and creative studies. You will see a breakout of the credit hours delivered during the period compared to the prior year comparable period on Slide 7.
The Portfolio Training Program consists of time-based programs and project-based programs. Students who elect the time-based program enroll in a certain number of consulting or training hours over the contract term, whereas students who elect the project-based program are not limited by the number of consulting or training hours. Instead, they will be guided through a certain number of projects needed to complete a portfolio which will be predetermined and agreed upon the signing of a contract. Under project-based programs, the number of credit hours required to complete a project may vary depending on the background and requirements of the students.
As we execute on Huanqiuyimeng's growth initiatives, we expect to evaluate enrollment growth in the portfolio training and other business segments going forward.
Moving to Slide 8 and key financial highlights. As with the enrollment and credit hour information I just shared, the financials shared here include contributions from Huanqiuyimeng for only a portion of the third quarter from August 6 through September 30, 2019.
Total net revenues for the period increased to CNY 42.4 million compared to CNY 1 million in the third quarter of 2018 as a result of revenue contributions from the Huanqiuyimeng business acquisition, which consisted primarily of revenues from its portfolio training segment. Gross margin was 39.1% during the 2019 third quarter compared to negative gross margin of 46% in the prior year period, when the company did not have substantive operations.
Net loss from continuing operations attributable to ACG was CNY 24.4 million for the period compared to CNY 8.9 million in the prior year period, primarily due to increased operating expenses. This includes higher SG&A expenses of CNY 26.8 million from the newly acquired Huanqiuyimeng operations and increased operating expenses consisting of CNY 1.5 million in professional and consulting fees related to the Huanqiuyimeng acquisition and higher share-based compensation expense of CNY 1.8 million.
Lastly, we continue to be in a solid financial position with USD 14.7 million in cash and cash equivalents.
We provide a more detailed summary of our financial results for the third quarter and year-to-date compared with the respective prior year periods on Slides 9 and 10. However, as I mentioned before, the prior year periods reflect financials when the company did not have substantive operations.
We provide additional detail on our capital positions and balance sheet on Slide 11. The information shown here does not -- does take into account the closing of the Huanqiuyimeng acquisition. Working capital deficit was USD 19.7 million and total shareholders' equity was USD 43.4 million at September 30, 2019 compared to working capital of USD 28.2 million and shareholders' equity of USD 40.2 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2018. We believe we are well positioned to execute on several growth initiatives using internal capital.
And I would now like to turn it over to Kevin, who will expand upon our outlook and growth strategies.Kevin?
