Asics Corp. reported a 24.8 percent sales increase to 106,549 million Yen (€802,901-$974,477) for the first quarter of 2021, with increases of 43.4 percent in Europe, 20.1 percent in North America, 95.8 percent in Greater China and just 0.5 percent in Japan. E-commerce outperformed, rising by 86 percent overall, with gains of 125 percent in Europe and 106 percent in North America. It accounted for 13.1 percent of total sales, up from 8.8 percent a year ago.
In Europe, which is the company’s largest region, sales reached a level of ¥31.7 billion (€238.7m-$289.7m). Providing more granular information, as usual, Asics EMEA reported a currency-neutral increase of 35.0 percent. Wholesale revenues went up by 43.9 percent with gains of 66.8 percent in Germany, 46.1 percent in France, 52.1 percent in the U.K., 79.4 percent in Italy, 57.6 percent in Iberia and 26.4 percent in Sweden.
Worldwide, Asics’ revenues jumped in performance running by 43 percent to ¥54.47 billion (€410.2m-$497.9m) with growth in all regions, led by Europe and China. The Onitsuka Tiger brand rose by 30 percent, thanks in part of higher marketing efforts in Europe. Sport Style increased by 20 percent.
Claiming market share gains, Asics EMEA noted that the Japanese brand reaffirmed its leading position in running and tennis shoes in Europe, based on NPD data. The company’s operating income in the region grew significantly, reaching a level of €42.7 million in the quarter. In terms of yen, it was about ten times higher than in the year-ago period.
The company also returned to profitability in North America for the first time in three years, driven by better margins at wholesale and the higher proportion of online sales. Operating earnings went up by 134.6 percent in Japan and by 714.3 percent in Greater China.
Across all the geographies, the gross margin improved by 2.8 percentage points to 49.9 percent, aided by the incremental online sales. Operating expenses declined by 6 percent, due especially to lower marketing costs. The end result was a net income of ¥19.48 billion (€146.7m-$178.1m), compared with a loss of ¥243 million (€1.8m-$2.2m)in the corresponding period of a year ago.
The uncertainty over the Tokyo Olympics has led the management to maintain its forecast of a profit of between ¥2.0 million (€15,061-$18,280) and ¥3.5 billion (€26.4m-$32.0m) for 2021. However, its better-than-expected momentum in performance running has led it to upgrade its guidance for the turnover, which is now projected at a level of ¥385.0 to ¥395.0 billion (€2.9bn-$3.5bn; €3.0bn-$3.6bn), indicating growth of at least 17 percent, with double-digit gains in all the categories.
