The Italian heritage sports brand is on fire, and Fila made the biggest stride in Europe during the first quarter of 2019, as Fila Korea's licensing royalties from the region more than doubled, growing by 112 percent to 8,952 million Korean won (€6.7m-$7.6m). Fila Korea has been the owner of the brand since 2007.
Globally, Fila Korea reported a 55 percent increase in licensing fees to KRW 16.7 billion (€12.6m-$14.1m), plus a 56 percent increase to KRW 6.47 billion (€4.9m-$5.5m) in design fees from its ten-year-old joint venture with Anta Sports Products in China.
The biggest surprise in the quarterly results of the Korean-based owner of the Fila brand was that the sales of its North American subsidiary surpassed for the first time those generated in its domestic Korean market. They jumped by 98.6 percent to $140.0 million in the region, leading to an even bigger jump in local net earnings to $5.9 million.
In Korea, the brand's sales went up at a more moderate pace of 34.3 percent to KRW 139.1 million (€104,724-$117,702), but they generated a higher profit of KRW 19.5 million (€1,468-$1,650). The operating margin in Korea went up by 9.4 percentage points to 17.4 percent, compared with a margin of 6.5 percent at Fila USA.
Excluding Acushnet, the U.S.-based golf equipment company controlled by the group, Fila's operations saw an overall jump in revenues of 71 percent to KRW 346.6 billion (€261.0m-$293.3m), with the operating margin rising to 17.6 percent of sales from 10.7 percent.
Including the results of Acushnet, the group's revenues rose by 23.3 percent to KRW 834.6 billion (€628.5m-$706.4m), and its net income advanced by 20.7 percent to KRW 96.2 million (€7,244-$8,141).
