Anta Sports upbeat despite H1 profit decline

Anta Sports, Chinas largest sportswear company by market value, announced its first-half results on Tuesday. Though the net profit fell by almost 19 percent, the company stayed positive in view of the value of its order book, which grew for

the first time in six quarters.

The Jinjiang, Fujiang-based company reported a net profit of 625.7 million yuan (102.16 million US dollars) for the period from January through June 2013 compared to 769.6 million yuan (125.8 million US dollars) in the previous year. Sales fell by 14.4 percent from 3.93 billion yuan (642.4 million US dollars) in the same period in 2012 to 2.37 billion yuan (387.39 million US dollars) in the first half of 2013.

Anta positive despite problems

Since 2011, China’s sportswear companies have been having a tough time in view of products flooding the market, full inventories and fierce competition among each other. "China's sportswear industry still faces uncertainty associated with the unresolved excess inventory problem in the near term. However, its mid- to long-term outlook will be promising, because the Chinese government isgenerally believed to be putting more effort into expanding domestic demand, boosting urbanization and increasing people's participation in sports," said Anta CEO Ding Shizhong in the earnings statement.

Together with Li Ning, Anta Sports is China’s best known sports brand and competes with international players like Nike und Adidas. The preference of Chinese customers for foreign brands is tough on domestic brands that try to compensate by expanding internationally.

"Anta will stick closely to its established plan to expand internationally," confirmed Ding. Anta began its expansion in 2001 with a first branch in Russia. It then entered other international markets like Hungary, the Philippines and Singapore. The company opened its first store in Dubai during the first half of 2013 and will continue to focus its expansion efforts on the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Currently, Anta operates stores in more than 20 countries worldwide.

Image: Anta Sports