ANTA Sports posts record annual profit at 4.1 billion yuan

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ANTA Sports Products Ltd, China's biggest sportswear retailer by market value booked record annual net profit for a fourth straight year on Tuesday.

The company's net profit jumped 32.9 percent to 4.103 billion yuan (613.13 million U.S. dollars) in 2018, from 3.088 billion yuan in the previous year, according to ANTA.

Revenue surged 44.4 percent to 24.10 billion yuan, while gross profit margin increased 3.2 percentage points to 52.6 percent.

It's online and offline businesses expanded further on strong demand in China for sportswear and sporting goods.

ANTA said consumer goods, including sportswear, remained the most resilient sector despite the uncertain global economic outlook for 2019 and challenges faced in capital markets.

"We remain cautiously optimistic about the prospects for Chinese brands in 2019," the China home-grown sports brand said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse.

ANTA's Shanghai store./ VCG Photo

ANTA, which sells the Fila and Descente brands in China in addition to its own home-grown ANTA brand, has benefited from strong demand for high-end products and growing online sales.

The Chinese sports brand said it will further increase the proportion of ANTA stores in shopping malls and department stores, while it will continue to grow its e-commerce channels.

It aims to increase the number of ANTA stores, including ANTA KIDS standalone stores, in China to 10,100-10,200 by the end of 2019, from 10,057 stores at end of 2018.

Number of FILA stores, including FILA KIDS and FILA FUSION, in the Chinese mainland, China's Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong, SAR of Macao, and Singapore will be increased to 1,800-1,900, from 1,652 stores in 2018, it added.

ANTA also said it expected its acquisition of Amer Sports Oyi AMEAS.HE, which owns a number of functional brands, to complete in 2019 and that will enhance its operational performance as a whole.

ANTA shares edged up 0.1 percent in Tuesday afternoon trade, compared with a 0.5 percent fall in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Source(s): Reuters