ANTA Sports Products Limited (2020) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. Welcome to the investor presentation of ANTA Sports Products Limited. We have just announced our annual results for 2024, in which the group achieved a record performance and high-quality growth, widening our lead, despite the challenging external environment. And we succeeded in achieving our strategic goal of #1 in terms of market share. Now let me introduce our management in attendance and invite them to present ANTA's results. Board Chairman, and Executive Director, Mr. Ding Shizhong; Executive Director and Co-CEO, Mr. Lai Shixian, Executive Director and Co-CEO, Mr. Wu Yonghua; Executive Director, Mr. James Zheng, Executive Director and CFO, Mr. Bi Mingwei; and Vice President, Sustainability and Investor Relations, Mr Lin Wei who just joined the company. In today's presentation, as in the past, first of all, our CFO, Mr. Bi, will walk you through our 2024 results and financial performance, and then Mr. Lai will briefly report on our results our outlook. Finally, in the Q&A session, Mr. Ding will lead all executives to answer your questions. Let's ask Mr. Bi to go through our 2024 financial performance, please.

Investors, friends, good afternoon. I believe you have read our annual report. So now let me report to you our results. In 2024, as you know, in the consumer market, there was big volatility. However, for ANTA Group, we relied on our strength of multi-brand. We achieved double-digit growth, and we expanded our market share. Total revenue of the group RMB 70.83 billion. For the first time, we exceeded RMB 70 billion, up 13.6% year-on-year, and we continue to be the #1 in the Chinese market. Operating profit attributable to shareholders, up 15%. Free cash flow, RMB 13.5 billion (sic) [ RMB 13.25 billion ]. So we have a stable ability to generate cash. HKD 1.18 will be the final dividend. Together with the interim dividend for the whole year, HKD 1.23, up 20% year-on-year. And dividend payout was very good. So last year, we announced that we will buyback shares. So, so far, we have already bought back 2 billion at appropriate times, we'll continue to implement the share buyback plan. So now let's take a look at our various performance of various items. RMB 70.8 billion was the total revenue. ANTA Brand, RMB 33.5 billion, up 10.6%. FILA, RMB 26.6 billion, up 6.1% year-on-year. Other brands grew strongly led by Descente and KOLON, RMB 10.7 billion, up 53.7% year-on-year. Last year, online and off-line achieved double-digit growth. For online growth, it is slightly better, 20% growth for online. Now let's take a look at gross profit margin. Overall gross profit margin 62.2%, down 0.4 percentage points. This is mainly because of a decline by 0.4 percentage point of ANTA core brand gross profit margin. Online business accounted for a bigger share. FILA gross profit margin was down 1.2 percentage points because in recent 1 to 2 years, we increased investment into FILA merchandise. We invested into R&D innovation, fabrics and so on. We kept on investing. So if you go to our FILA stores, you will be able to see how our products are changing. We believe that good products represent good brand. A brand's sustainable competitiveness must be driven by our products. So at FILA, we want to increase investment into products. So FILA's GP margin is still at a high level. So there is some slight decline only. FILA's expense ratio was the core thing. And then online accounted for a bigger share as well. Operating expenses. First, staff cost, 14.8%, basically every year it is at this level. So we maintain continuous investment into human resources. We put in RMB 10.5 billion in staff welfare and also personal development. Our capabilities must be built on brands because now brands are getting bigger and bigger in scale. So for all our multi-brand strategy and globalization, we are getting our talent pool ready. Advertising and publicity expenses, 9% of revenue, up 0.8 percentage points last year is a big year, is the Olympic year. So that's why the increase. R&D expenses, 2.8% of revenue. We invested RMB 2 billion in R&D. So it's up 20%. In 2024, we took the lead to say that we want to do dual innovation. We have built 6 centers, 250 experts, a few hundred suppliers took part together in open and innovation ecosystem globally. So in terms of innovation, they are putting much effort for our own technology platform. For example, our own [ PVG ], various innovations, they have achieved good results. Then let's look at operating profit margin. 23.4%, down 1.2 percentage points. So overall, operating margin, 23.4% is a healthy level. The decline is mainly about ANTA because its gross profit margin came down and online accounted for bigger share. FILA's OPM was down 2.3 percentage points because we kept on making investments into our products to enhance the high quality of our products. For DESCENTE and KOLON OPM, well, the discount has increased. Profit margin was up 1.5 percentage points. Profit attributable to shareholders. The profit margin is 16.8%, including Amer's, then 16.8%, up 0.4 percentage points, excluding one-off gain or loss. Last year, for the first time, there was RMB 200 million net profit in 2025. That would be even better profit contribution from Amer Sports. So next, working capital management. Our inventory turnover days, 123 days, as you know. We do D2C. So we are talking about inventory of all channels. We also have some wholesale. So all these are included in our accounts. 123 days is a healthy level. Now for our inventory over sales, it's at around 5, which is healthy. Inventory has increased year-on-year because in 2023, at the end of 2023, inventory sellout was very good last year. It was a base -- the base level was rather low. So we have detailed figures to show our all-channel SKU per SKU inventory. So if the early stage inventory was big, then we will make adjustments in terms of our orders. So as you know, the scale is very big. Every year, we need to have orders of RMB 100-odd billion of [indiscernible] tax. So our inventory management is very important. Receivables turnover and payables turnover, they are all at healthy level. Cash. Operating cash flow, RMB 16.7 billion. Net profit, RMB 16.9 billion. So net profit, 87% of sellout rate. Free cash flow, RMB 13.3 billion free cash flow. Cash at the end of period, RMB 52 billion. Now we have RMB 20 billion of liabilities. Net cash, RMB 31.4 billion. So our financial position is very sound. Then regarding dynamic management model. We continue to improve it. This year, we have built a trade fair assessment model. So in terms of categories and also profitability, operation, investing into the future, these are 3 areas that we are promoting multi-brand differentiated management. In 2024, we had a project of one stop arrangement. So we give full authorization in order to improve efficiency and for the whole value chain, and also lower costs. That's all in my presentation. Thank you all.

Thank you, Mr. Bi. For our multi brand strategy with continuous development of our multiple brands, we keep on capitalizing on our strengths. Now we will invite Mr. Lai to talk about how we will strengthen our deployment and layout to drive growth.

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Let me report to you the overall business and market and our operations and development in 2024. In 2024, China economy and consumer markets maintained a relatively low growth rate. For the whole year, Retail sales of consumer goods only grew by 3.5%. In December, Consumer Confidence Index was only 86.2%. During the 2 sessions, government's work report submitted for consideration, puts expanding domestic demand in all aspects as the first of the 10 tasks this year, reflecting the government's emphasis on expanding domestic demand. So we look forward to a gradual rebound of the consumer market with the support of policies. Besides, we expect that the global sports industry, the sports shoes and apparel industry, including China, will continue to grow steadily. In 2024, we also identified 3 main characteristics of the consumer market. So for us, the stratification of consumers continues, and there is a trend of intensification from groups individuals with high-end market, maintaining high consumption, and the mass market focuses mainly on volume. For individual categories, we can see that there are still many opportunities such as running outdoor, tennis, golf and other categories. Growth rate is more than double digits. Third, channel differentiation, whether it is online or offline, we have to do some new layout. If the layout is wrong, if it is misaligned, then there will be problems. And for mature brands, in overseas, they start to see good developments. For the sports industry, there are three main characteristics. First, for the top 5 brands market share the degree of concentration rises for ANTA Group and Amer Sports. Well, these are two wheels driving together, and our combined market share has risen to #3 in the world. Secondly, market concentration in China has fallen. For the top 5 brands, ANTA and FILA market share has risen. But for other international brands, market share, it has decreased. Number three, good products will outperform the market, or the industry. For our groups product line share. Well, it has led our group to become #1 market share in China. There are other outdoor vertical brands because of their good products that they have achieved good growth. Now let me talk about the business of various brands. ANTA brand, we are positioned at the mass. So we want to achieve breakthrough in performance sports and brand transformation and upgrade. In 2024 we had already introduced to you our strategies, which had made breakthroughs in 2024, especially in relation to new store efficiency and merchandise strategies. For ANTA Champion, it is for the premium market, and also ANTA Fusion, other bigger stores, Arena, Paris and also Super ANTA for the mass market. So comparing with traditional FILA, there is enhancement in shop productivity. In off-line core business district. In the top 300 core shopping malls across China, ANTA brand's growth was more than 10%. So in other words, our branding work has achieved good results. In new retail channel deployments, we achieved high growth. For example, Douyin. Number four, we have made many best-selling products with success. For example, in July last year, we started to sell PG 7. In less than half a year, we sold nearly 2 million pairs. This year, we will see big growth as well. For ANTA KIDS, new store formats is very successful. So we have ANTA Junior. It is 2x of the average. In terms of store productivity, we continue to use technology to lead growth and we create running basketball and leisure shoes suitable for children to meet diversified needs. And to Kids Online business, achieved a high growth rate of 30%. Online retail sell-through exceeded our expectation. FILA brand. We continue to insist on the high-end leisure positioning driven by core belief in superior products and customer value. In 2024, retail sell-through exceeded RMB 30 billion. For high ANTA Sports, Mindshare where it has risen according to third-party statistics. FILA brand, and also fashion mindset, we're #1. And also in terms of brand health index, also #1. For incremental categories there is breakthrough in the past. FILA focused on apparel. Now for footwear growth was very good, more than double digit. In 2024 sales reached 23 million pairs, and some sports series apparel, there was good growth as well. For channels. In 2024, Fila introduced many new store formats. So in terms of channels and products, we achieved differentiation. And we enhanced channel and terminal image with good results. For FILA KIDS, Mindshare growth -- grew healthily. For important categories like shoes, kids, school bags, they are well received in the market. growth rate is quite fast. FILA FUSION, there are incremental categories which achieved good breakthrough. For example, new outdoor and some accessories they achieved high growth. So for high-end vertical brands, they are our new highlights. In 2024, we maintained high speed growth. DESCENTE's revenue growth more than 35%. DESCENTE in terms of product, market share, growth, very good results. There is good innovation and R&D capability, and we achieved scale growth, and also a good sellout rate, more than 80%. DESCENTE's membership system is very successful. There are more than 1.4 million active members already. Members age has come down by 1 year. So that means young people have begun to be loyal customers of DESCENTE. And for high-grade members, the number increased by more than 30%. For channels, DESCENTE's high store productivity model is being iterated. Now the model is being evolved. There are 21 stores with store productivity over RMB 50 million. There are 5 more than RMB 100 million. And other sub brands also developed well. Golf is for the high end, it has laid its status. In high-end golf, DESCENTE's brand strength is slightly lower for kids high-end model. It has been built, at the end of 2024, there are 16 kids stores, average store productivity more than RMB 500,000. For KOLON, it is the fastest-growing brand in 2024 with more than 60% growth. KOLON sports in 2024, newly signed agreements with [indiscernible] as our spokesperson. So as a result, brand awareness was greatly enhanced. For Mindshare categories, KOLON has clearly differentiated its positioning and distinguished itself from many European and American outdoor brands. We created our unique Asian version. So it is well liked by consumers. In 2024, for shoes, or footwear, retail sell-through increased by 140%. In the past KOLON spots focused on apparel. So there are some blockbuster SKUs with more than 100% growth, like waterproof jackets. In terms of regional health, we are now more balanced in the past. KOLON focused on the North. Now we expanded in the South and we achieved some success. Stores in Southern China increased by 27 to 90 right now already. So seasonality and regional distribution is now more balanced. KOLON's discount is very good. In 2024, it increased by 5 points offline and 8 points online. For retail network management, in terms of store count, we kept on optimizing it to emphasize store efficiency and productivity. As of the end of December 2024, for the whole group, our store count was almost 12,000. So now the number is quite stable, especially for ANTA and FILA, store count is stable. DESCENTE's and KOLON still see some room for growth. Online business. In 2024, overall share was 35.1% of total. Comparing with same period last year, it's up 21.8%. Our online business leader in the industry. On Temu, JD and Douyin, these 3 major platforms, turnover. FILA and ANTA are both within top 5. In terms of digitalization in 2023, the group started apply AI in operations to drive change. In 2024, we continued to create bigger value. For example, regarding product design, with the use of AI, we enhanced efficiency and product design quality. So both have improved. In 2024, there was more than $2 billion of AI-assisted product design. And for marketing, we use algorithm to help. So sales conversion rates, comparing with the past, which is based on menu, experience, it's up around 20%. Online sales. We utilize digital human live streaming to create diversified application scenarios, contributing an additional GMV of RMB 120 million. In 2025, we'll continue to study how AI can be utilized in different areas of our company so as to achieve better outcomes and effects. Regarding ESG performance. All along, we attach much importance to it, and we achieved very good results. For example, our Water Resource Management, total water consumption intensity was down 2.5%. For greenhouse gas of our own facilities, we have put in place a carbon inventory and also a supply chain carbon reduction road map. For 897 suppliers, we conducted 786 ESG audits, of which were 26% were internal audits, 74% were external audits. The results showed that more than 80% of our suppliers received a good grade or above, which fully reflected our commitment to the social responsibility of our suppliers, and we make continuous improvement. We actively practiced social responsibility and contributed to society. In 2024, we made cash donation of RMB 37 million, to different charitable organizations, and donated sports goods with a value of over RMB 340 million based on tech price. In terms of corporate governance, we improved our management structure. We have 4 nonindependent executive directors and also for [indiscernible]. So overall speaking, we have 39.2% of our senior executives being women, reflecting our emphasis on diversity and inclusion. Regarding sustainable products. In 2024, sustainable packaging material use reached 36%, because we have made a 50% undertaking. Now it seems the progress is faster than expected. Our sustainable products include more and more. In 2024, the ratio of sustainable products were 30% of overall order book and we have made also an undertaking of 50%. Again, our progress is faster than expected. So in terms of advancing sustainability of our products, we have made solid steps. For ESG ratings, we continue to improve our standards and practices. Our current CDP rating is C, MSCI rating improved to 8. This is highest among Chinese sports brands. This reflects the recognition of our sustainability efforts. In international ESG platform, our voice is also growing. We have formally joined and committed to the science-based carbon target initiative with high threshold. Leatherwork Association and Sustainable Alliance and some other very representative international organizations. So this does not only show that -- show our influence globally, but also our strong commitment to global sustainability goals. Now let me talk about our outlook for 2025. In 2025, we'll continue to firmly implement our strategic direction of single focus, multi-brand and globalization, and lay out our future development in the long-term perspective. In 2025, our two major battles to be won will continue to be centered on our 2 main brands, ANTA and FILA. ANTA will continue to see brand breakthroughs. For example, Super ANTA, in 2024, we will make sure that this business model and the related products and categories, and channel expansion can be implemented satisfactorily. Besides, we have the go-to create more blockbuster footwear products and enhanced mindset of professional sports. FILA will continue its high-quality development for footwear and apparel and other sub-brands. We hope that they can all do well in order to drive growth. Through multi-brand synergy and the brand plus retail strategy, we hope to replicate the successful experience in China to overseas. So as to build a globalized operating system, an increased proportion of sales in regions other than Greater China, and maintain a stable and healthy level of inventory and discounts. At the same time, we'll continue to do dynamic and refined management to improve efficiency of our management, of our middle and back-office operations through refined management, organizational and human resources enhancement and digital upgrading. For sustainable development, we'll continue to promote implementation of strategies to build corporate resilience and future competitiveness. We'll continue our effort in low-carbon innovation, green supply chain, application of sustainable materials to promote development of products, strengthen sustainable management of suppliers to build a reasonable supply chain system, and deepen our social responsibility practice to enhance our brand influence. That concludes my presentation. Thank you very much. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call]