The booming golf market came in handy for the Korean-based Fila group, boosting the revenues of its controlled Acushnet subsidiary. As a group, Fila Holdings thus saw its revenues rise by 25.1 percent to 988,281 million Korean won (€717.2m-$875.4m) in the first quarter, leading to a 239.7 percent jump in net income to KRW 134,201 million (€97.4m-$70.7m), as the gross margin expanded by 2.1 percentage points to 50.3 percent. Excluding the contribution from Acushnet, the Fila brand’s revenues increased by 13.1 percent to KRW 341,395 (€247.8m-$302.4m).
Fila Holdings, known as Fila Korea until it was renamed last year, has been the owner of the Italian heritage sports brand by the same name since 2007, and it has licensed it out in Asia, the Americas and the EMEA regions. During the quarter, the number of licensees was steady at 48, but the company’s licensing revenues declined by 13.1 percent to $13.7 million. On the other hand, the group reported an 84.7 percent increase to $11.7 million in the 3 percent design fees attached to its joint venture with Anta Sports Products for Fila in China.
Typically, Fila Holdings charges a licensing fee of between 6 and 7 percent on the licensees’ wholesale revenues. Declines in royalties occurred in all geographical regions except for North America, where they increased by 9.0 percent to $1.6 million. In EMEA, where the group has one master licensee and 11 regional licensees, revenues from royalties plunged by 22.2 percent to $6.7 million.
Fila USA, the company’s North American subsidiary, saw revenues increase by 24.6 percent to $132.3 million, but its net profit declined by 43.9 percent to $1.9 million.
In South Korea, the company’s sales increased by 5.7 percent to KRW 136,163 (€98.8m -$120.6m) and net earnings grew by 33.5 percent to KRW 21,608 million (€15.7m-$19.1m), despite a continued reduction in the store count, which fell to 495 unitss from 509 at the end of last year.
