Anta posts a fifth year of record profits as its multi-brand product portfolio helps it capture rising demand for sportswear

Anta, China’s largest sportswear producer by market value, also owns the Italian-South Korean brand Fila, and the Japanese brand Descente

Anta is leading a group of global investors in a US$5.2 billion acquisition of Amer Sports, whose portfolio of brands includes Wilson, Salomon, Mavic and Suunto

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Published: 7:55pm, 26 Feb 2019Updated: 7:55pm, 26 Feb 2019

Anta Sports Products Limited, China’s most valuable sportswear producer, posted its fifth year of record net income on Tuesday, beating analysts’ estimates as its strategy of owning multiple brands including Fila paid off amid a strong demand for athletic goods around the world.

Net profit rose by almost a third to 4.1 billion yuan (US$612.5 million) last year, beating the 3.98 billion yuan consensus estimate in a Refinitiv survey of 30 analysts.

Sales jumped 44.4 per cent in 2018 to 24.1 billion yuan, said the company, based in Jinjiang city in Fujian province. Still, the company cut its full-year dividend to 78 Hong Kong cents per share, from 98 cents.

“The year 2018 was an important milestone for both China and Anta Sports,” said Chairman and CEO Ding Shizhong, in an interview with South China Morning Post after the company’s earnings press conference in Hong Kong. “The growth and earnings reflect the success of the multi-brand strategy. In one line, that is the best part [of the business].”

Ding Shizhong, Chairman and chief executive officer of Anta Sports during the company’s 2017 interim results announcement at Conrad Hong Kong in Admiralty on 15 August 2017. Photo: SCMP / David Wong

Founded in 1994, Anta has transformed itself from a producer of no-frills sports shoes and apparel to become a premium brand. It owns the Italian-South Korean brand Fila, as well as the Japanese brand Descente, among others.

Its eponymous brand, endorsed by such star athletes as the Golden State Warriors’ shooting guard Klay Thomson and eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquio, was the official apparel sponsor for the Chinese national team during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The company is upgrading its brand “with a global mindset,” Ding said.