FAST NEWS: Anta posts strong fourth-quarter sales growth

The latest: Sportswear retailer Anta Sports Products Ltd. (2020.HK) reported on Friday that retail sales for its Anta-branded products rose by a high-teens percentage figure in last year’s fourth quarter, while its Fila-branded products recorded even higher 25% to 30% growth.

Looking up: Sales of the company’s other brands were even stronger, up 60% to 65% in the period.

Take Note: The strong fourth quarter growth owed largely to a low base of comparison from the year-ago period when China was experiencing some of its worst Covid outbreaks, forcing the temporary closure of many Anta stores.

Digging Deeper: Retailers like Anta benefited for most of last year after China abandoned its “zero Covid” policy at the end of 2022. China’s leading homegrown sportswear company has stated that it will continue to pursue a “single focus, multi-brand and globalization” strategy to maintain high quality growth going forward. In the first half of last year, the company, which operates nearly 12,000 stores in China, saw its revenue rise 14.2% to 29.65 billion yuan ($4.2 billion), double its pre-pandemic level in 2019. Its net profit also jumped nearly 40% to 5.26 billion yuan.

Market Reaction: Anta’s shares rose on Friday, closing up 0.9% HK$70.9 by the midday break. The stock now trades near the lower end of its 52-week range.

Translation by A. Au

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