ANTA Sports 2014 profit surges nearly 30% in retail

China's ANTA Sports Products Ltd said 2014 net profit jumped nearly a third on growth in children's lines and e-commerce, beating estimates, as Chinese sports brands begin to bounce back from years of restructuring and decline.

ANTA Sports, China's biggest sportswear retailer by market value, said on Wednesday its earnings grew to 1.70 billion yuan ($272 million) for the 12 months ended December from 1.31 billion yuan in 2013. That was above a mean forecast of 1.64 billion yuan from 23 analysts' estimates.

The firm's stock surged nearly 10 percent after the results were announced, heading for its best day since July 2013, while the benchmark Hang Seng Index slipped 0.7 percent. That pushed ANTA's market value to close to $4.3 billion.

"We picked up growth momentum and delivered sustainable results," chairman Ding Shizhong said in a statement, describing ANTA as "the first domestic sportswear firm to achieve a turnaround in the sector".

But as recovery takes hold, ANTA's domestic peers like Li Ning Co Ltd, backed by TPG Capital, and foreign rivals, such as Nike Inc and Adidas AG, will also step up their game.

"China's sportswear industry is generally expected to still face intense competition and consolidation in the near term," ANTA's Ding said. The firm said it plans to try to boost sponsorship resources and brand recognition to gain market share.

ANTA's total revenue jumped 22.5 percent year-on-year to 8.92 billion yuan. It didn't disclose full details of its October-December trading, but said same-store sales of ANTA-branded products grew by a high single-digit percentage during the fourth quarter of 2014.

UBS said in a report in January that it was upbeat on outlook of Chinese sportswear firms, thanks to the growing spending power of China's middle class for more affordable domestic brands.

Last month, Li Ning said it same-store-sales growth turn positive during the July-December period, thought it still expects to post a third straight full-year loss amid restructuring, bloated inventories and slowing demand.

Original title by Reuters:China's ANTA Sports 2014 profit surges nearly 30 pct in retail rebound, shares jump