Amer Sports files for NYSE listing

Helsinki, Finland-based Amer Sports Inc, the maker of Wilson tennis rackets and owner of outdoor product brands such as Arc'teryx, which was bought about five years ago by a consortium of Tencent, Anta Sports and founder of Lululemon for $5 billion, has filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Amer is targeting more than $1 billion and an NYSE listing could value the firm at $10 billion, Bloomberg News reported.

Among Amer's iconic sports and outdoor brands are Salomon, Peak Performance and Atomic. As of Sept 30, Amer had 63 Arc'teryx stores, 30 Salomon stores, 67 Salomon distribution points and two Wilson stores in China.

Globally, Amer operates 138 Arc'teryx stores, 114 Salomon stores and nine Wilson stores, its three core brands.

The Chinese market has grown significantly in recent years, contributing 19 percent of Amer's global market revenue in the first nine months of 2023. Amer said the ability to make decisions quickly has empowered it to compete in a dynamic and evolving Chinese retail landscape.

For example, Arc'teryx's loyalty program included over 1.7 million members in China as of September, having grown from only 14,000 in 2018 on the back of the brand's ability to leverage tools such as WeChat to accelerate loyalty member enrollment.

The firm said revenue from the Chinese market had grown from $202.3 million in 2020 to $523.8 million in 2022. In the first nine months of 2023, it continued to grow to $593 million, up from $353 million in the same period of 2022.

"We believe there is a significant runway for growth in the region as we continue to roll out retail locations across our brands and scale our e-commerce platform," the firm said in its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Adam Zhang, founder of Keysolution Sports Consulting, said Anta's backing of Amer in the Chinese market is mainly reflected in its empowerment through direct-to-consumer distribution channels and branding enhancement. In the case of Arc'teryx, Amer has opened mega-size stores at prime locations to elevate consumers' in-store experiences.

"In China, the market for sportswear brands still has growth potential, but it requires brands to be able to differentiate themselves in product and marketing," Zhang said.

The sportswear industry's sales revenue in China had grown to 385.8 billion yuan in 2023 and is forecast to reach 523.7 billion yuan in 2027, according to Euromonitor International.

In its IPO paperwork, Amer reported $3.5 billion in 2022 global revenue, up from $2.4 billion in 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 20.4 percent. This, however, could not stop its net loss from ballooning to $252.7 million in 2022 from $237.2 million in 2021.

Adjusted EBITDA, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, increased from $311.4 million in 2021 to $453 million in 2022, a CAGR of 20.6 percent.

In the first nine months of 2023, revenue grew to $3.1 billion from $2.4 billion in the same period of 2022, or up nearly 30 percent. Adjusted EBITDA for the nine-month period rose to $422.1 million from $261.8 million, or up more than 61 percent.

The firm said it picked Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley as joint bookrunners for its proposed float.

wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn