Apollo Group Beats Expectations - Aomori Group.

Online, May 15, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Business Group News -- Aomori Group are understood to have revealed in a meeting with investors that Apollo Group, the largest operator of for profit colleges in the U.S., rose on the back of second quarter revenue and earnings figures.

Apollo Group's share price climbed to $1825, a rise of 7.1 percent, in New York after beating market expectations, despite the fact that fewer students are signing up.

Aomori Group reportedly highlighted that enrollment figures are down at all for profit colleges, including Apollo, due to competition from online courses being launched by traditional universities, state and federal investigations into practices and the high unemployment levels in the U.S. New enrollments at Apollo's University of Phoenix in Arizona fell by 20 percent, with overall enrollment down 15 percent.

While revenue for the fiscal second quarter, which ended in the middle of the first quarter, fell by 13 percent from the same quarter last year, coming in at $834 million. Earnings were down 79%, dropping from just under $64 million to $13.5 million. However, earnings per share, with exclusions, came in at 34 cents, well above the analysts' expectations of 23 cents on average.

Apollo's earnings were helped by an increased control over their costs as well as the higher than expected revenues.

Aomori Group allegedly reiterated a public statement from Apollo's chief executive officer Gregory Capelli who stated that they have been aggressive in managing their costs and as a result have increased their target savings by $50 million and they now anticipate delivering a minimum of $350 million in savings through next year as compared to the year just gone.