Watching the Winter Olympics and Moving toward the Future丨How was the official partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee refined for 7 consecutive years?

Per reporter: Zhao Li Nan Per editor: Chen Junjie

"ANTA has created competition equipment for 12 Chinese national teams in 15 major events of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, and is the sports brand that supports the most competition equipment for the Chinese national team." Recently, the relevant person in charge of ANTA Sports (02020, HK) told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that in ANTA's view, the reason why it can be recognized is inseparable from the "black technology" of the product.

In addition, according to an earlier announcement by ANTA Sports, it expects that the profit attributable to shareholders in 2021 will increase by no less than 45%. Anta Sports said that the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the Chinese mainland retail market in 2021 has decreased relatively, and the revenue of ANTA brands, FILA brands and other brands has rebounded compared with the whole year of 2020.

R&D investment ratio continues to exceed 5%

"Since 2009, AS ANTA, as the official partner of the 7th consecutive Chinese Olympic Committee, has accompanied the Chinese Olympic delegation and walked through the 3 Summer Olympic Games and 3 Winter Olympic Games together, accumulatively creating competition equipment for 28 Chinese national teams including gymnastics, weightlifting, judo, swimming, short track speed skating, speed skating, etc., and using scientific and technological hard power to let Chinese athletes wear professional equipment independently developed by Chinese national brands and compete in major international events." Anta Sports told reporters.

Anta Sports introduced that at this Winter Olympic Games, ANTA Sports used two independently developed fabric technologies in the design of uniforms - Blazing Technology and Waterproof and Moisture-permeable Technology.

"Blazing Technology was designed and developed by ANTA Science Laboratory, and has undergone a number of professional tests and hands-on experience with athletes. By locking in heat, it effectively prevents the loss of heat from the human body, and achieves super warmth in a cold environment through high-quality innovative materials and rigorous processes. The relevant person in charge of ANTA Sports introduced, "Among them, the three-dimensional structure of thermal insulation material polythermal cotton, with light storage performance, heat loss barrier effect increased by about 20%, can instantly heat up, efficient heat storage; the use of far infrared graphene materials, can significantly enhance the far infrared irradiation heating, more than double the national standard; in addition, super down is attached to the nano-level protective layer, waterproof and moisture-proof at the same time than ordinary down increased by 30% fluffiness, better play the long-term warmth effect of down, super warm. ”

According to the person in charge, at present, ANTA's annual investment in innovation and research and development exceeds more than 5% of the sales cost of that year, and has successively established six innovative research and development platforms such as sports science laboratories, testing laboratories, advanced shoe material laboratories, professional equipment laboratories, shoe innovation laboratories, intelligent manufacturing laboratories, etc., and established global design and development centers in China, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Italy, absorbing more than 200 design and development experts from 18 different countries and regions.

The market demand for sportswear still has a lot of room for growth

It is worth noting that in the development process of ANTA, it also completed the largest acquisition in the history of China's garment industry and China's sporting goods industry.

In fiscal 2019, a consortium of ANTA Sports and other investors acquired Amer Sports, the parent company of the Archaeopteryx brand.

"Amer Sports is a sporting goods company with internationally renowned brands such as Salomon, Arc'teryx, Peak Performance, Atomic, Suunto, Wilson and Precor. Its technologically advanced sports equipment, footwear, clothing and accessories are designed to improve performance and enhance customer enjoyment of sports and outdoor activities. ANTA Sports said.

According to ANTA Sports' earnings forecast announcement, ANTA Sports disclosed the growth rate of profit attributable to shareholders in 2021, excluding and including the impact of the losses of the joint venture company. Among them, the profit attributable to shareholders excluding the impact of the losses of the joint venture company will increase by not less than 35%; the profit attributable to shareholders, including the losses affected by the joint venture company, will increase by not less than 45%. In other words, this may also mean that the profitability of the associated companies formed by ANTA Sports' acquisition of Amer Sports has improved in fiscal 2021.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics, Journalist Mapping

In 2021, the retail sales of apparel in mainland China grew strongly. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2021, the retail value of clothing goods in the retail value of the mainland limited units of goods totaled 997.46 billion yuan, an increase of 14.2% year-on-year.

In response to the change in performance, ANTA Sports believes that in addition to the weakening of the impact of the epidemic, it also includes net financing income in 2021, and net financing costs in 2020. At the same time, ANTA Sports expects the loss of the joint venture in 2021 to be reduced compared with the full year of 2020.

According to Euromonitor data cited by Capital Securities in its research report, from 2011 to 2020, the compound growth rates of apparel and accessories, footwear and sports shoes and clothing in mainland China were 4.85%, 4.83% and 9.28%, respectively. In the same period, the compound growth rate of an ANTA Sports's profit was about 12.45%, exceeding the average compound growth rate of the industry by about 3 percentage points.

As for why ANTA can achieve growth that exceeds the industry's speed, the above-mentioned person in charge believes that this is highly related to the scientific and technological content of ANTA products.

Looking to the future, a number of research institutions have expressed their continued optimism about the sportswear industry.

Capital Securities believes that in recent years, domestic sports shoes and apparel leaders have shown the strength to compete with international brands in terms of products, brands, and channel operations. From the perspective of consumers, the boom in domestic products triggered by the Xinjiang cotton incident and the "wild consumption" caused by Hongxing Erke disaster relief donations fully illustrate the increase in consumers' recognition of domestic products.

SPDB International analyzed in its research report: "China's per capita consumption of sportswear is much lower than that of other countries or regions, and the proportion of China's sportswear in the overall footwear consumption is also much lower than that of developed countries." We believe this indicates that with the rise of health awareness and sports participation, there is a lot of room for growth and expansion in the demand for China's sportswear market in the future. ”

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