Anta (安踏体育) Tops RMB 80.2 Billion in 2025 — Descente (迪桑特) Emerges as New Growth Engine

Financial snapshot

Anta (安踏体育) reported full-year revenue of RMB 802.19 billion (RMB 80.22 billion) for 2025, a 13.3% year‑on‑year rise and the first time the group has cleared the RMB 80 billion mark. Operating profit climbed 15% to RMB 190.91 billion (RMB 19.09 billion) and core profit attributable to shareholders, excluding a one‑off listing gain in 2024, rose about 13.9% to RMB 135.88 billion (RMB 13.59 billion). The company said its domestic market share reached 21.8%, and gross margin held at 62.0% while operating margin improved to 23.8%. Free cash flow and cash reserves remain robust — free cash inflow was RMB 161.06 billion and net cash roughly RMB 317.19 billion — providing firepower for further M&A and expansion.

Brands and the pivot to high end

Behind the headline numbers is a clear shift in Anta’s growth architecture. The core Anta brand grew just 3.7% to RMB 347.54 billion and now accounts for 43.3% of group sales, a marked decline from its 2021 peak share. FILA (FILA/斐乐) expanded 6.9% to RMB 284.69 billion but no longer posts the 30%‑plus growth of earlier years. So where will growth come from? The answer is in “other brands”: Descente (迪桑特), KOLON SPORT (可隆), Jack Wolfskin (狼爪) and a cluster of outdoor and specialist labels. Those brands together generated RMB 169.96 billion, up 59.2%, with a sector‑leading gross margin of 71.8%.

Descente and outdoor brands take the lead

Notably, Descente’s China turnover reportedly surpassed the RMB 10 billion mark in 2025, making it another “hundred‑hundred million” (百亿) brand alongside Anta’s main labels and FILA. KOLON SPORT surged as well, with revenue jumping about 70% to over RMB 6 billion, and the late‑2025 acquisition of Jack Wolfskin — with some 400 stores globally — fills Anta’s mass‑market outdoor gap. It has been reported that Anta’s original 2026 target for Descente may already have been met earlier than planned. The result: the traditional “Anta + FILA” growth engines are shifting from poles of rapid expansion to stabilizers, while high‑end and specialist brands become the primary growth drivers.

Outlook and risks

Anta’s 2026 guidance signals the new structure: low single‑digit growth for the Anta flagship, mid single for FILA, and more than 20% growth for other brands — with overseas expansion a key lever. Can Anta balance upgrading its mass brand while scaling premium labels globally? That will be tested by intensifying domestic competition, changing channel economics as e‑commerce gains share, and potential headwinds abroad. Analysts warn — and it has been reported that — trade frictions and geopolitical tensions could complicate overseas rollouts and supply chains, while international incumbents press back in premium segments. For Western readers, the takeaway is clear: China’s largest sportswear group is moving from volume to quality, and betting its future on a multi‑brand, globalized portfolio.