New York, New York (NetworkNewsWire) – Roughly 20.5 million
students attended American colleges and universities in the fall of
2016, marking an annual increase of about 5.2 million since 2000.
This surge, as reported by the National Center for Education
Statistics1, comes alongside seemingly endless
escalations of tuition expenses and a mounting student loan debt
crisis2, which Forbes notes is now the second-highest
consumer debt category. Between 2011-2012 and 2016-2017, published
tuition and fee prices rose by roughly nine percent in the public
four-year sector and 13 percent at private nonprofit four-year
institutions, according to The College Board3.
ProBility Media Corp. (PBYA) (PBYA
Profile) is providing an alternative
to the expenses of traditional colleges with a selection of career
training and advancement programs aimed at capitalizing on rising
demand for skilled workers. Along with competitors such as
IHS Markit Ltd. (INFO), TrueBlue, Inc.
(TBI), GP Strategies Corp. (GPX) and
Aspen Group, Inc. (ASPU), ProBility is working to
address the skilled labor shortage that’s threatening to stunt the
forward growth of the U.S. economy.
A 2017 report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce4
gives additional insight into the rising demand for skilled labor
across the country. Among those surveyed by the Chamber of
Commerce, roughly two-thirds of employers said that they’ll be
hiring new employees over the next month, but approximately 95
percent noted difficulty in finding skilled workers for their
existing job openings in the second quarter of 2017. This dearth of
eligible applicants comes as the Trump administration seeks to make
good on its promise to spend $1 trillion on
infrastructure5 in the U.S. Bob Pitts, senior policy
advisor for the Associated Builders and Contractors Greater
Tennessee Chapter, summed up the issue in an interview with the
Memphis Daily News6. “The economy has gotten
stronger, the demand for construction and new building has expanded
significantly and it doesn’t show any signs of declining,” Pitts
stated. “It’s going to take additional people that the industry
does not have to meet the demands of the next couple of
decades.”
Many analysts suggest that vocational education programs and
related EdTech opportunities could serve as a solution to this
labor shortage, and the EdTech industry is flourishing as a result.
Earlier this year, Research and Markets forecast a compound annual
growth rate of around 7.2 percent for the global EdTech market over
the next decade, with the sector reaching $325 billion by 2025.
ProBility Media, as the first company
to offer full chain career advancement programs, is primed to
capitalize on this growth. Currently focused on changing the
landscape for small- and medium-sized businesses by providing
consistent, high quality online training courses that are typically
only accessible for enterprise companies, ProBility’s offerings
target the needs of more than 60 skilled trades and include a
comprehensive suite of career training, advancement and compliance
tools. This expansive portfolio has helped the company attract and
maintain an extremely diversified customer base that includes over
15,000 corporate customers, including many Fortune 500 businesses
and government agencies around the world.
Leveraging a disruptive strategy of defragmenting the
marketplace of small competitors through strategic platform
acquisitions and organic growth, ProBility is currently in a period
of rapid expansion that parallels the growth of the vocational
education industry itself. In its corporate presentation, the
company forecast organic growth in excess of 100 percent in 2017,
in addition to its robust and active pipeline of acquisitions. This
pipeline has been particularly noteworthy year-to-date, as
ProBility has already completed four strategic acquisitions that
will likely bolster its position at the forefront of the market. In
January, the company announced the acquisition of both National
Electric Wholesale Providers (http://nnw.fm/Gx3dB), a provider of
electrician-related study materials and the National Electric Code
with 2016 revenues of $1.54 million, and One Exam Prep (http://nnw.fm/O2e6Q), which established ProBility’s
“footprint in the construction training business, one of the
largest certification populations in the United States,” according
to ProBility president and COO Noah Davis. ProBility also acquired
W Marketing in June and Cranbury International (http://nnw.fm/gDLQ1) earlier this month. These two
companies recorded combined 2016 revenues in excess of $4.3
million.
After announcing the W Marketing acquisition, Davis noted the
importance of this aggressive expansion strategy to expanding
ProBility’s presence in the education technology market and
promoting returns for the company’s shareholders, particularly as
the White House pushes for large scale infrastructure updates.
“With the aggressive push from the current administration and the
anticipated apprenticeship program, ProBility is positioned to take
advantage of the projected upturn in the macroeconomic environment
for construction and building by offering high quality products
with the emphasis on safety,” he stated in a news release (http://nnw.fm/ch4RN).
In addition to its aggressive acquisition activity in recent
months, ProBility’s freshly-launched ProBility Safety Academy
serves as an example of the company’s commitment to facilitating
organic growth. Formed as a joint venture with Jonah Nathan, vice
president of Ranger Guard and Investigations, ProBility Safety
Academy offers courses, training and exam preparation materials for
a variety of fields, including private investigation, private
security, public safety, police science and criminal justice. In a
news release (http://nnw.fm/V3EJd), Nathan noted that ProBility
Safety Academy is “one of the only online institutions in the U.S.
that is solely dedicated to these fields.”
IHS Markit, formed following the July 2016
merger of IHS Inc. and Markit Ltd., is another company that’s
capitalizing on the demand for skilled labor, offering
comprehensive training courses
in formats and frequencies for professionals around the globe. IHS
serves more than 50,000 key business and government customers,
including 80 percent of the Fortune Global 500, meaning that it
shares many customers with ProBility Media Corp. In addition to its
training programs, IHS also supports world-class academic and
educational practices across civilian, commercial and military
spheres by delivering reliable data, information, analysis and
forecasting to a variety of industries and technologies. In late
June, IHS gave prospective investors some insight into the growth
potential offered by its forays into these career advancement
markets when it reported its
second quarter 2017 financial results. Among the highlights, the
company’s revenue totaled $906 million for the three-month period,
up from $588 million in the same period of 2016. As of August 20,
shares of IHS traded at approximately $45.75, up more than 25
percent from one year ago.
Another company operating in the growing career advancement
space is TrueBlue. According to its website,
TrueBlue’s portfolio of employment brands puts more than 840,000
people to work each year, partnering with about 130,000 companies
around the world. Notable among these brands are PeopleReady,
TrueBlue’s employment solution for the general labor and
construction industries; PeopleScout, a managed service provider
that boasts 98 percent client retention with its integrated and
highly-customized talent solutions; and Staff Management,
TrueBlue’s high-volume temporary staffing solution. The
differentiator for these brands is a commitment to providing
clients with a competent workforce that can improve productivity
and drive growth for TrueBlue’s sizable client base.
GP Strategies is a leader in sales and
technical training, EdTech solutions, management consulting and
engineering services. As GPX notes on its website, “Traditional
approaches to learning solutions are no longer equipped to deliver
the business impact that organizations need.” As such, the company
offers advanced managed learning services aimed at providing
specialized training to employees that’s designed to tackle the
unique challenges faced by clients from a number of industries. GPX
specializes in helping its clients analyze their existing learning
solutions in an effort to identify key areas for improvement, such
as shifting from live events to more modern, technologically
advanced blended solutions that take advantage of existing EdTech
platforms. GPX notes the potential upside to this analysis in a
case study
on its website. By developing an engaging e-learning program, the
company helped client MasterCard transform its annual compliance
training from a ‘check-the-box’ activity, and the results speak to
the efficacy of such efforts. MasterCard met its target of
exceeding industry standards following implementation of GPX’s
customized solution.
Post-secondary education company Aspen Group
targets the education market with responsibly priced
distance-learning education opportunities. Taking aim at the rising
costs of traditional college education, Aspen offers curriculums in
professional studies, nursing, education and business and
technology. For shareholders, this business model has proven
lucrative. Earlier this month, Aspen listed its
shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market, a move that chairman and
CEO Michael Mathews noted “should provide expanded visibility for
Aspen Group, improved liquidity for [ASPU] stock, and greater value
for [ASPU] shareholders.” In late July, Aspen reported 69
percent revenue growth and record revenues of $14.25 million in
fiscal 2017. The company’s gross profit was up 101 percent
year-over-year for the 12-month period. With this performance, it
should come as little surprise that ASPU’s PPS has recorded strong
growth in recent months. In January, the company’s shares hovered
near $3.60. By June, they climbed to a high of $6.70.
Rising tuition expenses and increasing demand for skilled labor
are putting into motion a modern-day renaissance in the global
education industry. Companies like ProBility Media
are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this evolving market by
offering specialized products and services aimed at bolstering the
availability of qualified candidates for hiring employers and
boosting retention rates by developing customized training and
career advancement programs. The recent stock performance of
industry players IHS Markit Ltd. and Aspen Group Inc. highlights
the massive upside this industry presents to shareholders, and the
aggressive expansion efforts undertaken by ProBility Media Corp.
suggest that it could be an intriguing opportunity for prospective
investors to cash in as the employment market kicks into high
gear.
Editorial Sources:
1) National Center for Education Statistics http://nnw.fm/VaPr5
2) Forbes http://nnw.fm/C7efQ
3) Thecollegeboard.org http://nnw.fm/D68qv
4) U.S. Chamber of Commerce http://nnw.fm/cJ0kO
5) Fortune http://nnw.fm/91rpM
6) Memphis Daily News http://nnw.fm/oCF8t
For more information on ProBility Media Corp. visit: ProBility Media
Corp. (OTCQB: PBYA)
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