"Big Mac" Anta faces stress testing? Main brand growth sluggish, gross profit margin declines

In 2025, Anta Sports achieved record revenue, reaching 80.219 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.3%; however, the profit attributable to shareholders dropped by 12.9% year-on-year to 13.59 billion yuan. Additionally, according to the financial report, excluding the accounting impact from the 2024 listing and equity offering of Amer Sports, the profit attributable to shareholders increased by 13.9% year-on-year to 13.588 billion yuan.

However, this impressive “report card” did not receive a positive response in the secondary market. By the close of trading on the day of the earnings release, Anta Sports’ share price had fallen.

What’s more noteworthy is that the growth pattern of Anta Sports is quietly changing.

The main brand Anta and the so-called “cash cow” Fila are experiencing growth slowdowns, while a cluster of emerging brands is rapidly rising, becoming the new engine driving the group’s performance. At the same time, the internal collaboration pressure under the multi-brand matrix is also becoming apparent—new brands, although growing quickly, are smaller in scale; older brands, while larger, are struggling to grow.

Industry analysis suggests that the competition in the mass sports and sports fashion markets is entering a mature phase, with the expansion of high-end professional and outdoor brands beginning to determine the group’s future growth rate. Finding a new balance between speed and scale has become the most critical challenge for Anta Sports moving forward.

Main brand growth slows, new brands support revenue growth

Financial data shows that Anta Sports’ overall revenue in 2025 grew by 13.3% year-on-year, reaching 80.219 billion yuan, setting a new historical high. However, a breakdown of the business structure reveals that the main drivers of the group’s growth are quietly changing: the growth rate of the main brand Anta continues to slow down, and Fila has also entered a low-growth phase.

The Anta main brand has long occupied half of the group’s business, being the core of the “mass sports” segment. In 2025, the brand’s revenue was 34.8 billion yuan, only growing by 3.7% year-on-year, which is not only far below the group’s overall growth rate but also marks the first time in years it has dropped to single digits. The financial report shows that the growth rate of the Anta main brand has been declining since 52.5% in 2021, falling to 15.5% in 2022, then to 9.3% and 10.6% in the following two years, and further declining to 3.7% in 2025. Its revenue share has also dropped to 43.3%.

Independent fashion consultant Wang Ning points out that this reflects intensified competition in the mass sports segment and the disappearance of channel dividends; the past growth model, which relied on scale, is hitting a ceiling, while the profit margins that brand premium and product upgrades can release are also becoming limited.

The other major brand, Fila, is also experiencing single-digit growth. The financial report shows that Fila’s revenue in 2025 was 28.5 billion yuan, an increase of 6.9% year-on-year. Looking back at its historical performance, Fila’s growth rate has remained in the mid to low single digits for several consecutive quarters, with only a 6.1% growth for the entire year of 2024, while the growth rate in 2023 was still 16.6%.

“The brand still has operational capabilities and price advantages, but its role is shifting from a ‘high-speed engine’ to a ‘steady player,’” analyzes fashion industry independent analyst and founder of Shanghai Liangxi Brand Management Co., Cheng Weixiong. He believes that Fila’s past rapid growth relied on “full-category expansion + deep cultivation in core cities,” but now the channels and product lines are nearing saturation, combined with intense competition in the sports fashion market, making it difficult to return to high growth in the medium to short term.

Notably, the “other brands,” which account for less than a quarter of revenue, have instead become the main drivers of growth. In 2025, this segment’s revenue saw a significant increase of 59.2% to 16.996 billion yuan. Among them, Descente, relying on its positioning in specialized sports such as skiing, golf, and triathlon, achieved over 10 billion yuan in revenue for the year, becoming the group’s third brand to reach the 10 billion yuan level. Kolon is the fastest-growing brand under Anta Sports, with rapid improvements in store efficiency, revenue, and same-store sales in core cities.

It can be said that behind this impressive report card is the strong performance of the multi-brand matrix, which supports Anta’s overall revenue growth.

High inventory, long turnover time, DTC model tests operational capabilities

Despite the revenue growth of multiple brands under Anta Sports, the pressure on profitability cannot be overlooked.

In 2025, the group’s operating profit margin slightly rose by 0.4 percentage points to 23.8%, but the overall gross profit margin fell by 0.2 percentage points to 62.0%. Among them, the operating profit margin of the main brand Anta decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 20.7%, with a gross profit margin down 0.9 percentage points to 53.6%; Fila’s operating profit margin slightly increased by 0.8 percentage points to 26.1%, while its gross profit margin fell by 1.4 percentage points to 66.4%.

The financial report indicates that the decline in Anta’s main brand gross profit margin is mainly influenced by two factors: increased cost investments in professional products, and a higher proportion of e-commerce channels, which typically have lower gross profit margins, pulling down overall profitability. The decline in Fila’s gross profit margin, in addition to the increased proportion of e-commerce, is also influenced by the cost increases from strategic enhancements in product functionality and quality.

Meanwhile, inventory turnover is also slowing down.

In 2025, the average inventory turnover days for Anta Sports increased from 123 days to 137 days, a year-on-year increase of 14 days, with the first half of the year seeing an increase of 22 days year-on-year at one point, indicating a significant decline in inventory turnover efficiency. The inventory amount grew from 10.76 billion yuan in 2024 to 12.15 billion yuan, an increase of approximately 13%. The inventory backlog led to a write-down of 274 million yuan, whereas in 2024 there was a reversal of inventory write-downs of 132 million yuan. Cheng Weixiong pointed out that high inventory reflects rising internal operational pressures, a common challenge as the industry shifts from incremental to stock competition.

According to Anta Sports’ information, the group adopts a mixed distribution model centered on DTC (Direct-to-Consumer): on one hand, it includes the direct business of Anta under the DTC model and the direct retail business of Fila and other brands; on the other hand, it includes wholesale and franchise businesses under the DTC model. The financial report shows that the DTC direct revenue for the Anta brand accounted for 35.4%, with a year-on-year increase of 5.9%; DTC franchise revenue accounted for 18.4%, a year-on-year decrease of 3.4%.

“The DTC model requires high levels of internal refined management and information capabilities, including product planning, supply chain, marketing, and discount control,” Cheng Weixiong analyzes. Over the past few years, Anta Sports has indeed enhanced brand strength and gross profit margins through the DTC model, but as growth enters a new phase, its “side effects” are gradually becoming apparent, such as slower inventory turnover, deeper discounts, and heavier operational costs.

“What complicates matters is that Anta has many brands, which places extremely high demands on internal collaboration capabilities. The decline in the main brand’s efficiency has already exposed potential issues with multi-brand collaboration.” He believes that the group is laying out large direct stores nationwide and promoting online and offline dual channels, but it also bears the fixed costs of rent, labor, and inventory. With intense competition in the consumer market in 2025, the direct sales system directly incurs the dual pressures of inventory backlog and profit compression compared to the franchise model.

Cheng Weixiong suggests that the group should close inefficient stores and slim down the direct sales network while moderately introducing a franchise model in the Chinese market to enhance flexibility and resilience. “Anta needs to maintain its DTC advantages while appropriately loosening restrictions and using franchising to share the pressure and improve overall operational efficiency.”

In recent years, Anta Sports has been trying to break away from the “one-size-fits-all” approach, transitioning to a segmented and tailored strategy by launching different store formats such as “Arena-Level” and “Hall-Level” to enhance store efficiency. Meanwhile, the number of Anta stores is also significantly shrinking. However, industry insiders believe that its long-term effects will still require time to verify.

Anta accelerates global acquisitions; can its integration capabilities keep pace with the speed of expansion?

Continuing with the management philosophy of “multi-brand, strong operations,” in addition to the impressive report card, Anta Sports’ series of acquisition activities from 2025 to early 2026 are also noteworthy.

In 2025, Anta Sports fully acquired the international leading outdoor brand Jack Wolfskin and invested with the international fashion group MUSINSA to establish MUSINSA China, bringing “MUSINSA STANDARD” and the multi-brand retail store Musinsa Store to the Shanghai market. Entering 2026, Anta made another move, acquiring 29.06% of the shares of PUMA SE for 12.3 billion yuan.

In recent years, Anta Sports has been ambitious, continuously expanding its business territory, with acquisition investments since 2025 approaching 15 billion yuan.

After completing the acquisition of Jack Wolfskin, the group quickly arranged a new “captain” for it, appointing former Amer Sports Greater China president Yao Jian as the global brand president of Jack Wolfskin, who reports directly to Ding Shizhong. Cheng Weixiong believes this arrangement reflects Anta’s desire to replicate Amer Sports’ growth path in the Chinese market. However, he also points out that it will take time for Jack Wolfskin to rise again from its previous low point, and its challenges lie not only in the Chinese market but also in reconstructing its brand positioning and product system in the global market.

Currently, Jack Wolfskin, which has just been incorporated into the group, has yet to make a substantial contribution to the performance. According to the plan, Jack Wolfskin will launch a global five-year brand revival strategy, positioning itself as a “full-scenario professional hiking brand,” reworking its product and channel systems to unleash long-term brand value. Meanwhile, PUMA, which has recently been acquired, reported a net loss of 646 million euros in 2025, which also means that this asset is unlikely to bring direct benefits to the group in the short term.

It cannot be denied that some of the acquired brands have indeed become highlights of Anta Sports’ high growth in performance. The financial report shows that Descente, Kolon, and other brands achieved revenue of 16.996 billion yuan for the year, a year-on-year increase of 59.2%, with an operating profit margin of 27.9%, nearly seven times higher than in 2020. Additionally, the latest financial report of Amer Sports, in which Anta Sports holds a stake, shows that its revenue grew by 27% year-on-year to 6.566 billion dollars in 2025; net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 489% to 427 million dollars; and its core brands, including Arc’teryx and Salomon, achieved double-digit growth in their main business segments.

However, even overseas brands that were once seen as “successful examples” are not free from performance pressure.

Arc’teryx, while rapidly expanding, faced controversies over its “firework show” promotional events and product quality issues last year, leading to fluctuations in brand reputation. Last year, it fell out of the leading rankings during “Double Eleven,” and some limited-edition releases did not perform well. Meanwhile, Fila, referred to as a “cash cow,” has seen a clear slowdown in growth, with revenue in 2025 only maintaining single-digit growth and a gross profit margin declining by 1.4 percentage points to 66.4%.

“The overlapping positioning, resource consumption, and internal competition among multiple brands have raised the demands on the group’s overall coordination capabilities,” Cheng Weixiong believes. The outdoor and sports market in China is still in an expansion cycle, and Anta Sports possesses the capability to integrate overseas brand resources and promote localized operations; however, on the other hand, as the business territory grows increasingly vast, the integration pressures and management costs arising from high-intensity acquisitions cannot be ignored.

He also pointed out that at the channel level, the accelerated rollout of the DTC model will force brands into a more transparent and direct competitive environment. “For example, with Arc’teryx expanding nationwide relying on a high-price, high-margin model, how to balance its high-end positioning with the demands of a broader consumer market is an inevitable challenge to face in the next phase.”

Beijing News Shell Finance Reporter Qu Xiaoyi

Editor Yue Caizhou

Proofreader Mu Xiangtong