Anta Sports, bolstered by double-digit sales gains for its Anta and Fila brands, a retail market recovery in China, and increases in both its wholesale and DTC businesses, reported a 45 percent improvement in annual profit attributable to shareholders at 10,954 million yuan renminbi (€1.4bn) for the 12 months ended Dec. 31. FY23 total revenues increased by 16 percent to RMB 62,356 million (€7.99bn), with Anta sales gaining 9 percent to RMB 30,306 million (€3.88bn) and Fila sales jumping by 17 percent to RMB 25,103 million (€3.22bn). All other brands sold by the Chinese group rose by 58 percent to RMB 6,947 million (€889.9m).
Gross margin expanded by 240 basis points to 62.6 percent due to DTC expansion for the Anta segment and lower retail discounting for the Fila brand. Anta’s annual gross margin improved by 130 basis points to 54.9 percent, while Fila’s increased by 260 basis points to 69.0 percent.
There was double-digit sales improvement across all three segments, led by an 18.8 percent increase in apparel sales to RMB 35,067 million (€4.5bn), followed by an 18.1 percent gain in accessories to RMB 1,957 million (€250.7m), and a 12.7 percent improvement in footwear sales to RMB 25,332 million (€3.24bn).
The group closed the FY with a total of 7,053 doors worldwide, a 2 percent year-over-year increase that included approximately 5,400 directly operated doors in China and the remainder as franchisees. Southeast Asia was the primary focus of Anta’s presence outside of China with Thailand and Singapore landing direct retail doors and Malaysia and the Philippines eyed as new, lucrative markets. Anta’s DTC sales increased by 24 percent to RMB 17,005 million (€2.17bn) as the e-commerce business in constant currency rose by 11 percent (2 percent on a reported basis) to RMB 9,931 million (€1.27bn), helped by ongoing improvements at traditional platforms such as Tmall and Pinduoduo and expansion of new social media e-commerce platforms. Traditional wholesale revenues fell by 23 percent to RMB 3,370 million (€430.6m).
Meanwhile, Amer Sports’ final year under the Anta-controlled joint venture AS Holding, realized 30 percent revenue growth for the FY to RMB 31,248 million (€3.99bn) and a net loss of RMB 1,367 million (€174.7m).
