South Korea’s Fila Holdings Corp, the parent company and co-owner of Acushnet, grew fast in 2019, especially in Europe, where momentum remained strong. For the 12 months ended on Dec. 19, Fila Korea’s licensing royalties from the region surged by 46.5 percent from the previous year to 39,186 million Korean won (€29.0m-$31.7m).
Fila Korea has been the owner of the Italian heritage brand since 2007, and it has been licensing it out in key regions such as Europe. Globally, for the full year, Fila Korea reported a 35.5 percent increase in licensing fees to KRW 72,137 million (€53.3m-$58.4m), as well as a 56.0 percent increase to KRW 33,150 million (€24.5m-$26.8m) in design fees from its 10-year-old joint venture with Anta Sports Products in China.
The revenues of the company’s North American subsidiary, Fila USA, jumped by 18.6 percent to $536.6 million in the region, but its net profit in the region declined by 8.1 percent to $21.4 million.
In South Korea, the brand’s sales went up by 22.5 percent to KRW 612,236 million (€452.1m-$495.5m). Net profit in the country soared by 80.6 percent to KRW 108,121 million (€79.8m-$87.5m).
Overall, Fila’s operations saw a jump in revenues of 16.8 percent to KRW 3,450 billion (€2.5bn-$2.8bn). The gross margin improved by 0.5 percentage points to 50.1 percent, while the operating margin rose by 1.6 percentage points to 13.6 percent, and net earnings rocketed by 61.0 percent to KRW 338,144 million (€249.7m-$273.5m).
But the group did not fare as well in the first quarter of 2020, due to the impact of lockdown restrictions and store closures around the world. Global revenues declined by 5.4 percent from the year-ago quarter to KRW 789,901 million (€583.3m-$638.8m). Without Acushnet, they declined by 12.9 percent to KRW 302,028 million (€223.0m-$244.3m). Sales dipped by 7.4 percent in Korea and by 24.2 percent in the U.S. Fila licensing royalties fell by 5.7 percent globally, including a 4.0 drop in Europe. Anta has indicated that the rate of decline in China was higher during the period.
The gross margin narrowed by 1.7 percentage points to 48.3 percent in the quarter, while the operating margin lost 5.4 percentage points to 8.5 percent and net income tumbled by 58.9 percent to KRW 39,500 million (€29.2m-$31.9m).
