Anta's investment is accelerating, but its main brand is falling behind.
Author | Xie Yunzi
Editor | Zhang Fan
Anta has significantly accelerated its pace of investment and mergers.
In April 2025, Anta Sports acquired the German outdoor brand Jack Wolfskin for $290 million. Several months later, the company announced the establishment of a joint venture, MUSINSA China, with the South Korean fashion group MUSINSA. Since 2026 began, rumors about Anta's potential acquisition of PUMA have continued to intensify.
Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Anta intends to acquire a 29% stake in PUMA. If the acquisition is successful, Anta will replace the Pinault family as PUMA's largest shareholder. Almost simultaneously, there have been rumors that the century - old high - end outdoor brand Mammut is up for sale. It is reported that the brand is valued at 500 million euros, and Anta is one of the potential acquirers.
Although Anta has remained silent about the numerous rumors regarding these international brands, the industry has long recognized its ambition and financial strength for global expansion. Today, the Anta Group is increasingly resembling an investment company, but the business performance of the Anta main brand seems to be falling behind.
On January 20, Anta Sports released its full - year and fourth - quarter performance guidance for 2025.
Looking at the full - year performance, the Anta main brand recorded low - single - digit positive growth, FILA achieved mid - single - digit positive growth, and the sales of other brands increased by 45% - 50%. Amid the slowdown in the global sports goods industry, Anta's performance in 2025 was quite excellent, and the company maintained its guidance for overall sales and operating profit margin expectations for 2025.
However, looking solely at the fourth quarter, the Anta main brand recorded a slight low - single - digit decline, while FILA, which is in an adjustment period, achieved mid - single - digit positive growth.
FILA's Recovery is Not Easy
In recent years, FILA's performance has attracted significant attention from the capital market.
Actually, Anta's acquisition process for FILA was the longest. It was precisely the successful operation of FILA that further clarified the group's development strategy of "single focus, multi - brand, and globalization".
In August 2009, the Anta Group acquired the trademark use right and exclusive franchise of FILA in China from Belle International for 332 million yuan. At that time, FILA had only 50 stores in China and incurred a loss of over 32 million yuan. In the following years, Anta, which originated in lower - tier cities, continuously adapted to FILA, and the FILA brand finally turned a profit in 2014.
Looking back now, Anta's transformation of FILA mainly focused on three aspects:
Firstly, it introduced a talent team; secondly, it adjusted the brand positioning, bringing FILA back to the "sports fashion" category and targeting the middle - class population; thirdly, it reformed the sales channels, upgrading the wholesale model to a direct - operated store model focused on first - and second - tier cities, mainly in shopping malls.
In the first half of 2019, Anta disclosed FILA's performance separately for the first time. During this reporting period, FILA's growth rate reached 80%, and its revenue accounted for 44.1% of the group's total revenue. At this time, Muddy Waters released several short - selling reports targeting FILA, but the Anta Group achieved an "unprecedented victory" in this battle with FILA's continuous performance growth. Subsequently, Anta Sports' market value soared rapidly, even reaching a peak of HK$500 billion.
Image from Wind
However, after the "black swan" event of the pandemic, the entire industry entered a differentiation stage. FILA experienced its first revenue decline in 2022, with its gross profit and operating profit decreasing by 7.2% and 19.4% respectively that year.
After stabilizing its basic market, FILA proposed to focus on "elite sports", further strengthening its positioning for the middle class. In January last year, there was a personnel change at FILA. Yao Weixiong, a key figure who had been with the brand for nearly 16 years, retired, and Jiang Yan, who had previously worked at ANTA KIDS and FILA FUSION, took over.
Immediately afterwards, FILA launched the "ONE FILA" strategy. The essence of this strategy is to return to the brand's original intention and revitalize the brand by reshaping the offline retail experience and continuously leading the high - end sports fashion trend.
The general perception in the industry is that in addition to Anta Sports' acquisition vision and operational capabilities, FILA's rapid growth was also due to its ability to seize the dividend of the "consumption upgrade" era. More importantly, since 2016, Anta has successively acquired international brands such as DESCENTE and KOLON SPORT, laying the foundation for its later development in the "outdoor sports" field.
Table compiled by 36Kr based on public information
Seize the Outdoor Market and Stabilize the "Rear Base"
Of course, in Anta's multi - brand and internationalization process, the most remarkable achievement is the revitalization of Amer Sports, especially Arc'teryx.
In 2019, Anta led a consortium to acquire the global top outdoor products group Amer Sports for 4.6 billion euros. In February 2024, the restructured Amer Sports was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In the same year, the company turned a profit, achieving a net profit attributable to the parent company of $73 million, and Anta received its first "positive return" from Amer Sports.
Table compiled by 36Kr based on public information
Interestingly, analyzing Anta Group's "post - investment management" of Amer Sports, we can also see the shadow of its early revitalization of FILA. Anta's reform of Amer Sports also includes "introducing talents from around the world", "redefining the brand", and "DTC direct operation".
From an investor's perspective, although Amer Sports' market value was affected by the "mountain - blasting incident" in September last year, it has rebounded by now. Looking at the long - term, as of January 21 before the publication of this article, Amer Sports' stock price has risen by more than 167% compared to its listing, with an annualized return of over 64%.
Image from Wind
More importantly, the "all other brands" represented by DESCENTE and KOLON SPORT have become the third - largest force besides FILA and the main brand.
Based on the current results, the Anta Group has clearly formed a multi - brand matrix ranging from mass to high - end, and from daily life to professional sports. Among them, Anta represents mass sports, FILA represents fashion sports, and MAIA ACTIVE represents women's sports. In the outdoor field, Amer Sports represents the high - end segment, DESCENTE, which started from skiing, and KOLON SPORT, which is more inclined to light outdoor activities, represent the mid - high - end segment, and Jack Wolfskin represents the mass segment.
The latest data shows that in the fourth quarter of last year, the sales growth expectation of Anta Sports' "all other brands" was 35% - 40%. According to Zhongtai Securities, DESCENTE achieved 25% - 30% growth in the fourth quarter, with an annual growth rate of 40% and annual sales exceeding 10 billion yuan; KOLON SPORT achieved a strong 55% growth in the fourth quarter; MAIA ACTIVE achieved 25% - 30% growth.
Image from Anta Sports' semi - annual report, Huaxin Securities Research Institute
Undoubtedly, the Anta Group currently has the ability to acquire other high - quality targets. However, the slowdown in the growth rate of mature sports brands is an inevitable trend.
Some believe that the slight decline of Anta's main brand in the fourth quarter may be due to the weak performance during the Double Eleven shopping festival. According to the previous semi - annual report, the gross profit margin of Anta's main brand also decreased by 1.7 percentage points year - on - year, mainly due to the increased cost investment in some professional product categories and new product categories, as well as the increased proportion of online business.
In recent years, various brands, including Nike and Li - Ning, have been adjusting the proportion of e - commerce channels and increasing investment in offline channels to cope with market challenges.
Zhongtai Securities pointed out that in 2026, Anta's main brand aims to "reverse the decline and achieve growth", and both Anta and FILA brands face downward pressure on operating profit margins. While other brands remain stable, Jack Wolfskin may drag down the performance in the new year, and the group's overall profit margin is also under pressure.
All these may indicate that while expanding externally, Anta also needs to continue to deepen brand differentiation, strive to maintain the market position of existing brands, especially the "Anta main brand" that truly represents the group's brand power, and stabilize the real "rear base".
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The content of this article only represents the author's views.
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This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr Finance". Author: Xie Yunzi, Zhang Fan. Published by 36Kr with authorization.