From a small workshop to the big brother Anta's market value of 83.7 billion is still seeking overseas acquisitions

Not only is there a few streets of other sports brands, Anta Sports is the market value of 83.7 billion yuan, surpassing Haishu's home and becoming the clothing retail group with the highest market value in China.

Perhaps many people don't know that Anta Sports has been firmly seated in China's No. 1 Sporting Goods Company. What's more, it has already succeeded in being among the top four global sporting goods companies, alongside Adi, Nike and An Dema.

Not only mad at several other sports brands, Anta Sports has a market value of 83.7 billion yuan, surpassing the Haishu House (42 billion market value) and becoming the clothing retail group with the highest market value in the country.

From small workshops to brand retailers, Anta sold 7.3 billion in the first half of 2017

In 1991, Ding Shizhong (Anta Group Chairman and CEO) hanged the brand name of “Anta” at the door of his own shoemaking workshop. At that time, thousands of shoe factories in his hometown were doing overseas OEMs. Anta was the first to propose. To be your own brand of Fujian shoe enterprises.

In the following ten years, Anta entered the brand wholesale model, completed the construction from production to brand wholesale, and focused on the penetration of second and third tier cities. In 2007, Anta Sports went public in Hong Kong and became the first Fujian sportswear company to go public in Hong Kong.

However, after the Beijing Olympic Games, the domestic sportswear industry broke out in the inventory crisis. Since then, the entire industry has experienced a recession in the past three years. At that time, the industry’s big brother “Li Ning” was facing the turning point of sales decline, Ding Shizhong began to lead Anta “from the brand wholesale Transforming to brand retail, to withstand the crisis of the industry.

Since then, Anta has not only completed the comprehensive transcendence of Li Ning, but also entered its own era. In 2015, Anta's annual revenue exceeded 10 billion, becoming the first sporting goods company to enter the “Billion Club”. Set a record high in revenue and profit.

Behind the revenue and high profits, in addition to the continuous adjustment of market strategy, and Anta's R&D investment in quality is also inseparable. In 2004, Anta successfully signed a contract to sponsor the CBA. Ding Shizhong hopes that the CBA players who play will be able to wear Anta's shoes, but they are rejected by "Anta's shoes are uncomfortable." Ding Shizhong, who couldn’t be stunned at night, invested 30 million yuan to build a national sports science laboratory, which is a leap in innovation.

In mid-August, ANTA Sports released its 2017 semi-annual report. In the first half of this year, Anta's sales amounted to 7.323 billion yuan and net profit was 1.451 billion yuan, up 19.2% and 25.92% respectively, and the gross profit margin was increased to 50.6%. .

The answer to this 10-year listing is obviously to satisfy Ding Shizhong. At present, Anta has developed a multi-brand strategy. In addition to maintaining a cost-effective market, its exploration of high-end market brands is mostly accomplished through acquisitions.

“Buy” a variety of mid- to high-end brands, still seeking more overseas acquisitions

Ding Shizhong once said in media reports that through different brand combinations and their market layout for different customer groups, Anta covers consumers from the public to the high-end market, from functional to fashionable leisure sports goods, from adults to children of different ages. To meet the specific needs of various market segments.

At present, Anta has three major brands: Anta, FILA (and FILA KIDS) and Descente. Anta positioning the mass market; FILA is positioning the mid-to-high-end fashion sports market, targeting high-end customers; Descente is a high-end outdoor sports brand.

Entering the mid- to high-end, international market: the acquisition of FILA's Chinese franchise and trademark use rights

In August 2009, Anta acquired the franchise and trademark rights of Belle's sports brand FILA in China for HK$600 million, and is responsible for promoting and distributing FILA China trademark products in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. This move is also seen as an iconic move by ANTA Sports to enter the global market.

This acquisition was later confirmed to be a win-win situation. Before being acquired by Anta, FILA's performance in the Chinese market was weak and weak. After the acquisition, FILA began to return to the fashion line, and invited celebrity endorsements such as Gao Yuanyuan and Shu Qi to expand their influence. On the other hand, Anta changed it through FILA. The low-end market impression has been compensated for in the high-end sports brand route and international brand effect.

Today, FILA has grown from a loss-making business to one of ANTA Group's most important performance drivers, with revenues accounting for 20% of the group.

Entering the outdoor sports market: get the exclusive sales business of Descente in the Mainland

In 2016, Anta established a joint venture with Japan's Descente and ITOCHU Corporation subsidiary Itochu, and the three companies held shares in a 6:3:1 ratio.

Anta Sports invested 150 million yuan in this incident and obtained the exclusive privilege of designing and selling products with the Descente trademark in mainland China. It is reported that Descente is well-known in the field of skiing and skating in terms of its accumulation of functional fabrics, waterproof and warmth technology.

The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held soon, and Anta seems to have a good market prospect for building a high-end ski sports brand.

According to the semi-annual report, the number of stores of Anta Sports Group's Volkswagen brand Anta reached 9041, and the high-end brands FILA and Descente, the total number of stores reached 9,931.

Acquisition of Sprandi, kolon, and acquisition of PUMA?

If the acquisition of FILA and Descente is an initiative of Anta in the mid-to-high-end market, the acquisition of the British outdoor brand Sprandi in 2015 is Anta's compensation for the international brand in the low-end market.

Sprandi itself is positioned in the low-end market and is well-known in Eastern Europe, Russia, South Africa and other regions. Some media reports said: "Russia is one of Anta's largest export markets. With the brand status and distribution network of Sprandi, it has made a significant contribution to Anta's internationalization strategy."

In February 2017, Anta Group announced the acquisition of the Korean brand kolon at the same time as the annual report. “The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary ANKO, and Kolon joint venture partner and the company entered into a joint venture agreement for the establishment of the joint venture group. The business of the joint venture group is mainly in the region. Exclusively engaged in the marketing, sales and distribution of products with certain areas of Kolon Sport IP and trademarks."

In other words, in addition to the three major brand clusters of Anta, FILA and Descente, Anta is also acquiring other international brands to enrich its business line.

In fact, after the turnover of Anta Group exceeded 10 billion yuan in 2015, Ding Shizhong said that he would seek more overseas acquisitions; in March 2017, Anta announced that it had raised HK$3.79 billion to prepare for the acquisition of international sports brands in the future. And cooperation opportunities.

At the same time, since April this year, the news that the North American sports brand PUMA is about to be acquired has been frequently transmitted, and it is possible that Anta will be able to get it. For a long time, the North American market is a paradise for sports brands, but it is occupied by brands such as Adi and Nike. PUMA also has a certain market share. If Anta wins it, it will go further from the real “globalization”.

Domestic sports brand revival? International sports brand cofferdam

The same is a sports brand listed in Hong Kong. The market value of other domestic brands is far less than that of Anta. As of August 21, 2017, Li Ning's market value was 12.76 billion and Xtep International was only 6.994 billion.

However, this time, not only Anta, Li Ning also disclosed beautiful results in the semi-annual report: the first half of 2017 revenue was 3.996 billion yuan, an increase of 11.10%. It is reported that although 361 degrees has not released half-year results, it is expected that its first-quarter and second-quarter income will have a single-digit increase.

The rise in the performance of various brands and gross profit margins seems to indicate the recovery of the domestic sports brand market.

The growing awareness and policy support for the sports and fitness industry in China seems to have made this "market recovery" a trace. According to the Economist's "China's start-up: China's sports and fitness industry in the rise" report, the current size of China's sports and fitness market is close to 1.5 trillion yuan, of which sports products and equipment account for nearly 70%.

The cake is getting bigger and bigger, and the domestic sports brand is also vacating a hand to resist the cofferdam crushing of international brands. The increase in consumption levels means that more and more people can accept the pricing of the high-end sports brand market, and the trend factors also make these brands in China.

In the international market, Nike, adidas, Under Armour, etc. are carrying out tug-of-war. China’s rising market is a big fat. For example, Nike’s goal for fiscal year 2020 is to achieve sales of US$6.5 billion in the Chinese market. This cake is constantly being internationally The company is separated.

The Chinese sports market will be evenly divided by domestic and international brands, or is it better for the locals? Ding Shizhong said that they do not want to be China's Nike, to be the world's Anta, brand encirclement, and the idea of ​​going out may bring a longer-term future.

Editor in charge: Wang Zhen