Asics suffered a decline in profits in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for the first nine months of this year, but the company said that it has been making rapid progress in priority areas.
As reported by the Asics group, the company saw its income tumble by 33.5 percent in the region to 4,832 million yen (€37.2m-$42.5m), mainly due to extra costs for store openings. Sales in EMEA inched up by 0.6 percent to ¥81,597 million (€628.5m-$717.7m), with steady sales of running shoes, but fell by 4.1 percent in constant currencies.
The management said that the impact of the company's business transformation continues to develop the business in key strategic areas: sales at Asics brand stores in the region grew by 11 percent, while e-commerce jumped by 85 percent.
The group also recorded increases in emerging markets like South-Africa (+2%), Russia (+17%) and the Middle East (+131%), where it opened its first brand store at The Avenues Mall in Kuwait.
The management said it is now ready to drive future growth by building closer consumer connections, prioritizing strategic business initiatives and becoming more responsive. As previously reported, Asics Europe implemented far-reaching changes in its management structure and its business approach last year, including a stronger focus on consumer engagement, own retail development and emerging markets.
In terms of products, sales of running shoes remained stable, while tennis footwear increased by 2.4 percent. In particular, sales of Onitsuka Tiger footwear, which is Asics' heritage lifestyle fashion brand, jumped by 28 percent.
During the quarter, Asics launched the FlyteFoam Lyte and FlyteFoam Propel midsole material in two core running shoe models - the Dynaflyte 3 and Roadhawk FF 2. The two new styles followed the successful launch in the second quarter of the Gel-Kayano 25 shoe.
In tennis, Asics gained significant exposure from its partnership with Novak Djokovic.
