Benefiting from the Olympic year's sports consumer trend and the rapid expansion of affiliated companies, Anta presented a bright spot in the semi-annual report: net income increased by 62.6% year-on-year, and revenue also achieved a significant double-digit percentage growth.

After the release of the financial report, Anta generously announced plans to use up to 10 billion Hong Kong dollars to repurchase shares on the open market, and the repurchased shares will be cancelled within the next 18 months.

On Tuesday, August 27, Anta Sports announced its financial report for the first half of 2024.

1) Key Financial Figures:

Revenue: Anta's revenue in the first half of the year was 33.74 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%, exceeding the market expectation of 32.97 billion yuan;

Profit: The gross margin in the first half of the year slightly increased to 64.1%, exceeding the expected 63.2%; the net income attributable to shareholders was 7.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 62.6%, exceeding the expected 6.05 billion yuan; excluding the impact of joint ventures, the net income increased by 17.0% to 6.16 billion yuan.

Cash flow: Net cash inflow from operating activities in the first half of the year was 8.502 billion yuan, and free cash flow was 7.619 billion yuan.

2) Shareholder return

Dividend: The board of directors declared a mid-term dividend of HKD 1.18 per ordinary share.

Repurchase: It is planned to use no more than 10 billion HKD to repurchase shares in the open market. The repurchased shares will be cancelled within the next 18 months.

ANTA brand revenue increased by 13.5% YoY, FILA revenue increased by 6.8%.

This year is a big year for sports, and ANTA's main brand, ANTA, has achieved rapid expansion, while FILA's revenue has increased slightly. Specifically,

ANTA's revenue in the first half of the year was 16.08 billion yuan, a YoY increase of 13.5%, with a gross margin of 56.6%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points YoY.

FILA's revenue was 13.06 billion yuan, a YoY increase of 6.8%, with a gross margin of 70.2%, an increase of 1.0 percentage point YoY.

Other brand revenue was 4.6 billion yuan, an increase of 41.8% year-on-year, with a gross margin of 72.7%, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points year-on-year.

ANTA stated that its high-end outdoor sports brand DESCENTE saw a significant increase in revenue in the first half of the year, and KOLON SPORT also saw revenue growth. Revenue from specific consumer brands, including ANTA Kids, FILA KIDS, and FILA FUSION, increased by 41.8% year-on-year in the first half of the year, reaching 4.6 billion yuan.

Amer Sports, as an important investment of ANTA Sports, successfully listed on the NYSE in 2024, bringing strategic synergy and brand value enhancement to ANTA Sports.

The company has increased its number of stores in mainland China and overseas, particularly the growth of FILA brand stores. According to the financial report, as of June 30, 2024, FILA had a total of 1981 stores worldwide. In comparison, ANTA had a total of 7073 stores globally.

In the first half of the year, ANTA Group's research and development investment further expanded, approaching the 1 billion yuan mark, with a year-on-year growth of over 30%, reaching nearly 1.5 times the total research and development expenditure of Li Ning, Xtep, and 361 Degrees during the same period.