Asics' global sales fell 3.4 percent to 386.6 billion yen (€3.1bn-$3.5bn) in 2018. The operating margin declined to 2.7 percent from 4.9 percent in the previous year, and extraordinary costs led the company to suffer a ¥20.3 billion loss (€162.1m-$182.0m), compared with net earnings of ¥12.9 billion in the prior year. The loss came after extraordinary charges of ¥23.0 billion (€183.9m-$208.0m) for revaluation of foreign assets including the Runkeeper online community based in Boston, which underperformed.
Much of the weakness in the group's sales was in its core performance running segment, where sales were off by 7 percent to ¥2.15 billion (€17.2m-$19.4m), while many other smaller brands have been posting strong sales increases. Sales declined also by 12 percent to ¥203 million (€1.6m-$1.8m) in training and by 4 percent to ¥540 million (€4.3m-$4.9m) in other performance sports.
Asics' total footwear sales fell by 3 percent to ¥3.22 billion (€25.7m-$29.1m), while apparel declined by 6 percent to ¥479 million (€3.8m-$4.3m). However, lifestyle shoes like the Onitsuka Tiger collection raised their sales by 15 percent to ¥587 million (€4.7m-$5.3m).
The company's sales and operating results increased only in East Asia, including China. They fell in all the other main regions. They also declined at Haglöfs, the group's outdoor brand, whose losses grew slightly to ¥260 million (€2.1m-$2.4m), resulting in an ongoing negative operating margin of 2.8 percent on relatively flat of sales of ¥9,234 million (€73.8m-$83.5m).
In the EMEA region, sales declined by 0.6 percent, or by 3.3 percent in constant currencies, falling to ¥105.6 billion (€843.4m-$955.2m), and the operating margin dropped to 4.8 percent from 7.8 percent in the prior year.
Still, sales in the region's direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel jumped by 22 percent, which the company attributed to new store openings and investing in Asics branded environments with key retailers. E-commerce sales in EMEA soared by 105 percent. In addition, sales in the region's emerging markets grew by 21 percent in constant currencies, led in particular by the Middle East and Russia.
In the Americas, Asics' sales fell by 15 percent to ¥90.3 billion (€721.9m-$816.5m), driven by a 16 percent drop in footwear, and the region produced a negative operating margin of 4.4 percent against a positive margin of 2.2 percent.
Sales declined only slightly in Japan to ¥118.2 million (€0.9m-$1.1m), and the operating margin there decreased by 1.5 percentage points to 3.4 percent. Meanwhile, revenues from Oceania, Southeast Asia and South Asia declined by 1.8 percent, or 0.7 percent in constant currencies, to ¥27.1 billion (€216.4m-$245.2m), generating a positive operating margin of 13.6 percent. Sales in East Asia jumped by 8.6 percent, or 8.2 percent in constant currencies, to ¥53.3 billion (€425.7m-$482.2m), with a slightly reduced operating margin to 10.1 percent.
The company's latest forecast calls for sales increase of one percent to ¥390 billion (€3.1bn-$3.5bn) in 2019, with gains of 12 percent in lifestyle footwear, 4 percent in Sport Style and 2 percent in performance running. Core performance sport should be flat, but the group sees Others category, represented mainly by Haglöfs, decline by 15 percent.
