Beyond the flagship brand and FILA, Anta is seeking new growth engines.

What are the key factors for the success of Anta’s multi-brand strategy?

Interface News Reporter | Qin Lixin

Interface News Editor | Ren Xuesong

On March 25, Anta Group released its 2025 annual performance report. The financial report shows that in 2025, the group achieved total revenue of 80.219 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.3%; operating profit reached 19.091 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%.

At the performance release conference held that day, Anta’s co-CEO, Lai Shixian, analyzed the changing characteristics of the current consumer market. He observed that while current consumers pay attention to cost-effectiveness, they are also willing to pay a premium for good products. From the perspective of the sports goods industry, Lai Shixian stated that the overall market shows a characteristic of being “large and stable,” with professional sports segments such as running, tennis, and golf steadily growing, while the fashion sports segment, although slowing down, still maintains positive growth.

“Our brands under the group, Anta and Descente, have made early arrangements in the professional sports field. In the fashion sports segment, FILA, as the industry leader, achieved nearly 7% steady growth last year. From hardcore outdoor to urban light outdoor, the outdoor segment maintains high growth, and there is still great potential for penetration, so we remain confident about the future growth of Descente, Kolon, and Jack Wolfskin within the group,” Lai Shixian stated.

The multi-brand matrix is becoming the core support for Anta Group to consolidate its market leadership, with business complementarity among the brands. However, this also raises higher demands for the company’s refined operations and cross-brand management capabilities.

“In fact, many people in the past wanted to do multi-branding like us. From today’s perspective, there are basically no successful examples,” said Ding Shizhong, Chairman of Anta’s Board, at the performance meeting. He believes that Anta has “accumulated the capability of operating multiple brands” while practicing the corporate strategy of “single focus, multi-brand, and globalization.”

Financial data shows that the main brand Anta’s revenue in 2025 reached 34.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%; operating profit increased by 2.5% year-on-year to 7.211 billion yuan. FILA’s revenue was 28.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%; operating profit increased by 10.1% year-on-year to 7.418 billion yuan. All other brands achieved revenue of 17 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 59.2%; operating profit increased by 55.3% year-on-year to 4.736 billion yuan.

Currently, FILA, which has nearly 30 billion yuan in revenue, had revenues of less than 100 million yuan in 2010. However, it is worth noting that after a 25.1% growth in 2021, FILA, positioned as “high-end sports fashion lifestyle,” began to face doubts about slowing growth. According to the financial report, FILA’s year-on-year growth rates for 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 were 1.4%, 16.6%, 6.1%, and 6.9% respectively. In 2025, influenced by online discounts and other factors, FILA’s gross profit margin decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 66.4%.

Anta Group’s financial report defines 2025 as a “key year for FILA’s strategic restructuring and value leap.” At the beginning of the year, veteran Yao Weixiong stepped down, and Jiang Yan took over. At the brand level, tennis and golf have become the key segments for FILA; at the channel level, FILA continues to explore innovative store formats, including the new FILA TOPIA flagship store, FILA KIDS theme park stores at Beijing Universal Studios and Shanghai Disneyland, as well as FILA GOLF “Master Club” stores, further strengthening the brand’s high-end positioning.

Outside of FILA, other brands like Descente and Kolon are becoming new drivers of growth for the group. Anta Group revealed that Descente’s revenue in 2025 exceeded 10 billion yuan, becoming the group’s third brand to reach the 10 billion revenue mark following Anta and FILA.

Descente store. Photo: Reporter Qin Lixin

Regarding the unsatisfactory performance of the main brand over the past year, Anta’s co-CEO Lai Shixian responded that the main brand Anta, which targets the mass market, is already quite large in scale and faces intense competition in lower-tier markets and online e-commerce. However, he also pointed out that the revenue, profit margin, and efficiency indicators of the Anta brand are all quite healthy, “so as the largest brand within the group, we still have confidence in its development.”

Lai Shixian stated that in the future, they will continue to increase marketing investment in the main brand Anta. He mentioned that Anta’s investment in the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics has strengthened consumer awareness of Anta’s professional and technological strengths. In addition, Anta plans to increase investment in the running market, product matrix, and stores.

In 2025, Anta Group’s capital activities remain active. After acquiring the German outdoor brand JACK WOLFSKIN, Anta also secured a 29.06% stake in PUMA, becoming its largest single shareholder. Ding Shizhong stated that these moves are not aimed at pursuing scale expansion but are long-term investments centered around building future globalization capabilities. “We are reshaping ourselves as a global brand.”

Since proposing its globalization strategy in 2021, Anta Group has been accelerating its overseas market layout. In the 2025 fiscal year, Anta’s overseas focus is aimed at Southeast Asia, deepening the market through flagship stores in core business districts, expanding e-commerce platforms, and hosting sports events locally. In the financial report, Anta views Southeast Asia as a strategic outpost for the group’s globalization strategy, aiming to open 1,000 Anta stores in Southeast Asia by 2028.

Additionally, in the Middle East and Africa, as well as the European and American markets, Anta is continuously expanding its brand influence. In the Middle East and Africa, Anta has covered markets such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Kenya. Anta has also partnered with distributor Brandman Retail to enter the Indian market, expecting to open offline retail stores in major cities in India starting in 2026. For North America and Europe, Anta has entered mainstream retail channels such as Foot Locker and has launched e-commerce operations on the Amazon platform. In early 2026, Anta’s first flagship store in North America began trial operations in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

Looking ahead to 2026, Anta Group has provided a relatively conservative performance guidance: low single-digit growth for the Anta brand, with the operating profit margin maintained around 20%; mid-single-digit growth for FILA, with the operating profit margin around 25%; and 20% growth for other brands, with the operating profit margin continuing to be maintained above 25%.