Spring Festival demand concentrated in Jan-Feb drove a broad portfolio rebound for Anta — but March data shows the recovery was mostly seasonal.
Anta Sports Products Limited, China’s largest sporting goods group by market position, reported a broad improvement in first-quarter 2026 retail performance across its brand portfolio in a voluntary operational update published April 13 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx).
The flagship Anta brand posted high-single digit positive year-on-year growth — a sequential recovery from the low-single digit decline recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025. Fila, the fashion-performance brand operated by Anta in China, grew in the low-teens percentage range, while the group’s remaining portfolio — led by Descente and Kolon Sport, excluding brands added after Jan. 1, 2025 — posted 40 to 45 percent growth versus the same period last year.
Fila · China
| Quarter | YoY retail sales growth | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | +HSD% | High single digit |
| Q2 2025 | +MSD% | Mid single digit |
| Q3 2025 | +LSD% | Low single digit |
| Q4 2025 | +MSD% | Mid single digit |
| Q1 2026 | +LT% | Low-teens — strongest quarter |
| HSD = high single digit · MSD = mid single digit · LSD = low single digit · LT = low-teens. Bar lengths in original chart are illustrative and not proportional to specific growth rates. | ||
Source: Anta Sports Products Limited, Q1 2026 Investor Presentation, April 13, 2026
Retail sales, as defined by the group, cover consumer transactions in brick-and-mortar stores and on e-commerce platforms, whether operated directly by the group or by its distributors and franchisees, inclusive of value-added tax (VAT). They are a brand-level operational indicator and do not directly represent group revenue.
Behind the numbers: a surge concentrated in January and February
The first-quarter improvement was driven largely by a concentration of consumer spending around the extended Lunar New Year period — which began Feb. 17 and ran through the Lantern Festival on March 3. National retail sales of apparel, footwear, hats and textiles rose 10.4 percent year on year in the combined January-February period, a sharp acceleration from 0.6 percent growth in December 2025, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as cited in Anta’s Q1 2026 investor presentation. The group attributed the Q1 uplift to front-loaded festive consumption, noting that retail momentum moderated in March in line with typical post-holiday patterns.
Analysts said the March slowdown was not unique to Anta. Laurent Vasilescu, an equity research analyst at BNP Paribas, wrote that the quarter’s strength was “concentrated in January and February,” with demand “normalizing” in March. Industry indicators pointed the same way: Pou Sheng International — the retail arm of Taiwanese footwear manufacturer Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings — reported a 6 percent year-on-year decline in March revenue. Anta executives, Vasilescu said, described the first-quarter lift as seasonal rather than a clear signal for the full year.
Mass-market confidence remains limited, but premium outdoor continues to outperform
Beyond the holiday effect, Vasilescu said the mass-market segment is still grappling with weak consumer confidence and intensifying competition from both domestic and international brands. Anta’s management has acknowledged the pressure, and has pointed to store upgrades aimed at improving the offline shopping experience.
In contrast, Anta’s higher-end outdoor labels Descente and Kolon Sport were cited as beneficiaries of stronger demand at the premium end of the market. Vasilescu framed that momentum as a supportive read-across for Amer Sports, co-owned by Anta, whose brands include Arc’teryx, Salomon and Wilson.
International expansion will shape 2027 and beyond
Anta is also pushing further beyond China. In January 2026, it agreed to buy a 29 percent stake in Puma for $1.8 billion, with closing expected by the end of 2026, adding a major European sportswear brand to a portfolio that spans mass-market China, premium outdoor and Amer Sports’ global platform.
