ANTA Sports Products : Announces 2021 Interim Results

Hong Kong, 24 August 2021 - ANTA Sports Products Limited ("ANTA Sports" or the "Company", stock code: 2020.HK, and its subsidiaries collectively the "Group"), a leading global sportswear company, announced the Group's unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2021 (the "Period").

Financial Highlights

• The Group seized the opportunities of recovery after the easing of the pandemic, with revenue growing by 55.5% to RMB22.81 billion, a record high. Compared to the same period of 2019, the revenue also grew by 54.0%, establishing our absolute leading advantage;
• Through our "Single-focus, Multi-brand, Omni-channel" strategy, all our brands performed soundly and drove up the Group's overall gross profit margin by 6.4 percentage points to 63.2%. Compared to the same period of 2019, overall gross profit margin expanded by 7.1 percentage points;
• Our e-commerce business contributed 27% of the overall revenue of the Group and increased by 61% as compared to the same period of 2020 in absolute amount, maintaining strong growth despite last year's high base;
• Led by the strong growth of DESCENTE and KOLON SPORT businesses, total revenue of all other brands grew by 90.1% year-on-year to RMB1.41 billion;
• Without the effect of share of loss of a joint venture, the profit attributable to equity shareholders increased by 76.1% year-on-year to RMB4.19 billion, with the effect of share of loss of a joint venture, the profit attributable to equity shareholders increased by 131.6% year-on-year to RMB3.84 billion;
• The Group's net cash generated from operating activities for the Period increased by 163.1% to RMB6.31 billion and free cash inflow increased by 208% to RMB5.86 billion, reflecting our strong cash generation capability. Moreover, as at 30 June 2021, the Group's total amount of cash and cash equivalents, fixed deposits held at banks with maturity over three months, and pledged deposits reached RMB22.3 billion;
• Interim dividend grew by 185.7% to HK60 cents per ordinary share, representing a payout ratio of 35.4% of profit attributable to equity shareholders and maintaining a stable dividend payout ratio;
• The total number of ANTA stores (including ANTA KIDS standalone stores) in Mainland China and foreign countries stood at 9,788. The total number of FILA stores (including FILA KIDS and FILA FUSION standalone stores) in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Singapore reached 1,979. The total number of DESCENTE stores in Mainland China and Hong Kong reached 151. The total number of KOLON SPORT stores in Mainland China and Hong Kong reached 178. We deepened digitalization to drive e-commerce penetration and store efficiency optimization, continue to improve the sales network and promote the Group's sustainable development.
  
  

Operational Highlights

ANTA and ANTA KIDS

• As a leading sportswear brand in China, ANTA has always been committed to providing Chinese consumers with functional and "value-for-money" sportswear products across a diverse range of sporting categories, from popular sports to professional and niche sports;
• ANTA has continued to support Chinese athletes by becoming the official partner of COC for 16 consecutive years. The Company sponsored 22 Chinese national teams with Olympic outfit including winter sports, boxing, taekwondo, gymnastics, karate, weightlifting, wrestling, trampoline. In June, ANTA entered into an agreement with the Chinese National Swimming Team to officially become its strategic partner, by providing professional outfit for competition and training, further enhancing ANTA's brand influence and value;
• ANTA unveiled its latest "Champion Dragon Outfit" for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games for the CSD. The "Champion Dragon Outfit", designed by renowned visual artist Mr. Timmy Yip, incorporated innovative Chinese elements with traditional cultural concepts and philosophy while taking sportswear cut into account, sharing the joy with our Chinese Olympic athletes on the winning stage;
• During the financial period, ANTA endorsed Wang Yibo, a top Chinese star as the brand's Chief Global Brand Ambassador and actively promoted the development of skateboarding, street dance and car racing in China through his strong influence, further boosting the development of the national sportswear brand in the market amid the consumption trend from the new generation;
• ANTA has cooperated with Tsinghua University to establish the "Tsinghua University-ANTA (China) Co., Ltd Joint Research Centre for Sports Fashion". The center is committed to building a world-leading innovation platform for the sportswear industry, and will strive to achieve major breakthroughs in the future development of the industry in four aspects, including materials, design, talents and industry research;
• ANTA KIDS enjoys the advantage of being an "Industry Pioneer". After years of development, ANTA KIDS has established the market leader position, and has consistently promoted its philosophy of "Grow Up with Fun", incorporate more of a "Fun" element into the growth journey of kids through an integrated experience;
• ANTA KIDS launched "Wind-riding Running Shoes 3.0" design with the "Resilient Elastic" technology for children. The comfortable and flexible design has helped make the product very popular in the market and marked a new record in sales. ANTA KIDS has increased the proportion of shoes offerings amongst all products, in order to bring more differentiation to the brand.
  
  

FILA, FILA KIDS and FILA FUSION

• FILA has established its fashionable and elegant brand image by offering top quality products, top branding and top channels. Marking its 110-year anniversary, besides FILA's partnership with Gao Yuanyuan, Huang Jingyu, Kōki, and Cai Xukun, the brand has entered into an endorsement contract with renowned Chinese actress Jiang Shuying to make her mark on the "FILA Women" series;
• FILA launched the latest FILA ATHLETICS Cross Training series offering sports enthusiasts quality and functional garments that help them perform at their best yet remain stylish at the same time during training sessions;
• FILA continues to achieve breakthroughs in the light luxury market through crossover series with fashion brands. During the period, FILA launched FILA x LANVIN crossover shoes, FILA Icona shoes and FILA Mind Blower 2 BOA shoes to achieve new milestones in the market. We are confident that footwear products will become the driving force of future growth;
• Together with FILA KIDS and FILA FUSION, FILA has penetrated into the market of a wide range of age groups, expanding its target customer from individuals to households, and capturing more development opportunities.
  
  

DESCENTE

• Since 2016, the Group has exclusively operated DESCENTE in Mainland China. In the past five years, DESCENTE swiftly and successfully built its influence in the China market through different sports product series, including skiing, cross-training, running and women's fitness, among others. It caught the attention of our core targeted consumers who pursue unique high-tech materials and exquisite craftsmanship. DESCENTE proactively expanded its store footprint, debuted its largest China flagship store in Shanghai and provided consumers with an immersive sports experience;
• To celebrate the opening of DESCENTE's flagship store, the newly established D-MOVER CLUB, a professional platform for adventurous and dedicated sports lovers to challenge themselves, was also debuted during the opening ceremony in order to enhance interaction with customers;
• During the financial period, DESCENTE continued to cooperate with internationally renowned movie star Daniel Wu to promote various popular series. The core categories of DESCENTE including triathlon, Womens A-motion series and golf made several breakthroughs and achieved excellent sales performance, DESCENTE also joined forces with the Japanese brand ZUCCa and the Italian brand Vespa to launch crossover series.
  
  

KOLON SPORT

• During the financial period, KOLON SPORT announced that renowned Chinese actress Liu Shishi became a brand endorser. She worked alongside Chen Kun, a renowned Chinese actor, to interpret the high-end outdoor lifestyle of "Your Best Way To Nature";
• The Group is confident that with the rise of the middle class and the millennial generation, KOLON SPORT will expand its footprint strategically in high-end shopping malls and e-commerce platforms, creating profitability with sustainable performance.
  
  

Grasping the Momentum, Opportunities of the Sportswear Industry Brings Tremendous Development Potential

• With the Chinese government striving to promote the well-being and healthy lifestyle of its citizens, the sports industry scale is expected to reach RMB5 trillion by 2025, compared to RMB3 trillion in 2020, a CAGR of 11%. With the implementation of the "Three-child policy", the kidswear market is expected to become another sweet spot for sportswear brands;
• Leading sportswear brands with strong foundations should be able to gain more market share compared to the smaller players. As a multi-brand group that owns various leading brands in both the mass market and high-end market, ANTA Sports will continue to develop top quality products fulfilling the consumer demands of various age groups and income level;
• We will continue to ride on our three brand groups: Performance Sports Group, Fashion Sports Group and Outdoor Sports Group, to facilitate our multi-brand strategy. Each brand group will continue to develop according to the different stages of its growth curve, becoming the growth drivers of the Group's sustainable growth;
• Apart from the three brand groups, the Group will also strengthen the operational efficiency of the three platforms, namely supply chain platform, retail management platform and digitalization platform, to empower the growth of each brand and bring synergy to the multi-brand portfolio;
• The Group will further optimize its digitalization transformation with the aim of enhancing overall operational efficiency and continue to focus on the website upgrade, improvement of product intelligence, membership enhancement of various brands, with the target to establish a middle platform through the integration of online and offline business.
  
  

Ding Shizhong, Chairman and CEO of ANTA Sports, said: "ANTA Sports can look back on three extraordinary decades with pride. Through our 'Single-focus, Multi-brand, Omni-channel' strategy, we are committed to upholding our clear strategic thinking to prepare for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Our capability on new brands incubation and multi-brand management enables us to penetrate into various market segments in China effectively. With our capabilities in multi-brand management, we will continue to be 'Consumer-centric' and commit to achieving 'High-quality Growth'. Looking ahead, we are committed to meet consumers demands and experience by accurate benchmarking and to continuously optimize operational efficiency, in order to 'Lead to Win' in the future."

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For more 2021 Interim Results-related documents and information about the Company, please visit our investor relations website http://ir.anta.com.

About ANTA Sports

ANTA brand was established in 1991, while ANTA Sports Products Limited, a leading global sportswear company, was listed on the Main Board of HKEx in 2007 (Stock code: 2020.HK). For many years, ANTA Sports has been principally engaging in the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of branded sportswear including footwear, apparel and accessories to consumers. By embracing an all-round brand portfolio including ANTA, FILA, DESCENTE and KOLON SPORT, and by setting up an investor consortium to successfully acquire Amer Sports in 2019, a Finnish sportswear group that has internationally recognized brands including Salomon, Arc'teryx, Peak Performance, Atomic, Suunto, Wilson, etc. ANTA Sports aims to unlock the potential of both the mass and high-end sportswear markets.

IR website: http://ir.anta.com
WeChat official account: antatiyu_20070710

For further information, please contact:
ANTA Sports Products Limited
Investor Relations Department
Tel: (852) 2116 1660
Fax: (852) 2116 1590
E-mail: ir@anta.com.hk

Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Linda Pui
Tel: (852) 3103 0118
Email: AntaSportsir@citigatedewerogerson.com