BEIJING, October 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- ChinaCast Education ("ChinaCast" or the "Company", Nasdaq: CAST), a leading post-secondary education and e-learning services provider in China, today issued a statement clarifying two issues which may have arisen as a result of its letter to shareholders issued yesterday.
First, no question or concern has been raised by the Company's auditors, audit committee or any other relevant professional related to the Company's cash balances. As a result of several incidents that have been reported by auditors of other publicly held Chinese operating companies that have been unable to properly confirm cash balances, the Company will be engaging a third party service provider on a voluntary and proactive basis to conduct an independent confirmation in order to provide greater comfort to the marketplace on this issue and to differentiate the Company from those cases.
Secondly, this effort bears no relation to the Company's stock repurchase program. Although the Company does not believe it will be able to accelerate repurchases under current price levels due to the constraints outlined in yesterday's shareholder letter, the Company does intend to continue repurchasing its shares subject to applicable blackout periods.
About ChinaCast Education Corporation
Established in 1999, ChinaCast Education Corporation is a leading post-secondary education and e-learning services provider in China. The Company provides post-secondary degree and diploma programs through its three fully accredited universities: The Foreign Trade and Business College of Chongqing Normal University located in Chongqing; Lijiang College of Guangxi Normal University located in Guilin; and Hubei Industrial University Business College located in Wuhan. These universities offer four year and three year, career-oriented bachelor's degree and diploma programs in business, finance, economics, law, IT, engineering, hospitality and tourism management, advertising, language studies, art and music.
The Company also provides e-learning services to post-secondary institutions, K-12 schools, government agencies and corporate enterprises via its nationwide satellite broadband network. These services include interactive distance learning applications, multimedia education content delivery and vocational training courses. The Company is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market with the ticker symbol CAST.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release may contain statements that are forward-looking, as that term is defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements express our current expectations or forecasts of possible future results or events, including projections of future performance, statements of management's plans and objectives, future contracts, and forecasts of trends and other matters. These projections, expectations and trends are dependent on certain risks and uncertainties including such factors, among others, as growth in demand for education services, smooth and timely implementation of new training centers and other risk factors listed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this filing, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historic or current facts and often use words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "believe," "will likely result," "outlook," "project" and other words and expressions of similar meaning. No assurance can be given that the results in any forward-looking statements will be achieved and actual results could be affected by one or more factors, which could cause them to differ materially. For these statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.
Contact:
ChinaCast Education Corporation
Michael Santos, President-International
+1-347-482-1588
mjsantos@chinacasteducation.com
MZ-HCI
Ted Haberfield, President
+1-760-755-2716
thaberfield@hcinternational.net
