Key investment points

Company profile: Local sports leader, entering globalization

With its forward-looking strategic layout, Anta Sports has accurately captured market opportunities and adopted a multi-brand strategy to expand horizontally to become the absolute leader in the domestic sportswear industry. Anta was founded in 1991, FILA was acquired in 2009, and a multi-brand strategy was formally established in 2016, and brands such as Descente and Kolon were acquired one after another. Through episodic acquisition of brands and active growth, the company's current revenue and profit scale far exceeds that of its peers, making it the largest sports footwear and clothing group in China. In 2019, the company established a consortium to acquire the international sports brand group Amer Sports, which includes Arc'teryx, Salomon, Wilson, etc., to officially begin the globalization process; in 2023, the Southeast Asia branch was established, and the main brand officially went overseas.

Company advantage: multi-brand strategy dominates, mature brand style

At present, niche brands are rising at an accelerated pace, and the industry continues to differentiate, and it is expected that multi-brand strategies will prevail; after years of operation, Anta Sports has established a mature multi-brand style of play, and the mutual collaboration of multi-brand back-end resources has further empowered the company's operations, and the company is expected to continue to maintain its advantage in the next round of competition. Specifically: 1) A stable top-level management structure ensures consistent implementation of strategies; 2) A mature brand layout and incubation style ensure the continuous construction of an incremental curve; 3) Strong support channel power and supply power ensure the brand's flexible and quick response at the retail level; 4) The binding of top competition resources gives the brand strong marketing power, and the collaborative innovation resources on the brand side strongly promote R&D capabilities.

Company business: Based on Anta/FILA, plenty of outdoor kinetic energy

The company's business includes three major components — popular professional sports with Anta as the main focus, high-end fashion sports with FILA as the main focus, and outdoor sports with Descente and Colon as the main players. Looking forward to the future, Anta is expected to further gain mass market share through product innovation and store upgrades. FILA is actively expanding professional sports scenarios such as tennis and golf to drive high-quality growth. Descente and Kolon will also contribute to increasing growth, and the company's share in the sports footwear market in China may continue to increase. Furthermore, the company's globalization process continues to advance, and the associated company Amafen's operations are greatly improved and expected to contribute positive returns in 2024, which is expected to form a “double wheel” with the domestic market to drive the company's growth.

Investment advice: supported by the three major growth curves, giving a “buy” rating

The company is expected to achieve revenue of 68.75, 75.29, and 82.32 billion yuan in 2024-2026, up 10.3%, 9.3% year-on-year, and 3-year CAGR of 9.7%; net profit to mother of 13.41, 13.87, 15.4 billion yuan, up 31.0%, 3.5%, 11.0% year-on-year, and a 3-year CAGR of 14.6%. In 2025, the average PE value of comparable companies in the industry was 9.52 times. Given the company's leading position, DCF valuation was combined, covered for the first time, and given a “buy” rating.

Risk warning: Terminal consumption recovery falls short of expectations; risk of store upgrades, optimization and adjustment; new brand growth falls short of expectations.