Amer Sports FY2024 Revenue Up 18% Year-Over-Year

On February 25, Amer Sports, a subsidiary of Anta Group and home to brands like Arc'teryx and Salomon, released its financial results for the 2024 fiscal year and fourth quarter.

In FY2024, Amer Sports achieved a solid 18% year-over-year growth in revenue, reaching $5.183 billion. Gross margin increased by 290 basis points to 55.4%, while operating profit surged 56% to $471 million. Net profit for the year was $73 million, a 135% year-over-year increase.

Q4 was particularly impressive, with revenue growing by 23% year-over-year to $1.636 billion, and net profit rising 117% to $15 million.

Amer Sports CEO James Zheng remarked, "Fourth quarter was a great finish to a historic year for Amer Sports Group, with strong performance across all segments and geographies. Led by Arc'teryx, our unique portfolio of premium technical brands continues to create white space and take market share with long growth runways still ahead. Given the strong sports and outdoor trend globally and our still underpenetrated brands, I am confident that our talented management team is well positioned to deliver strong results in 2025 and beyond. "

By segment, the Technical Apparel, led by Arc'teryx, posted the strongest growth, with 2024 revenue increasing by 36% to $2.194 billion and same-store sales up 28%. In Q4, this segment's revenue grew by 33% to $745 million. The Outdoor Performance, driven by Salomon, saw a 10% increase in revenue, reaching $1.836 billion. In Q4, revenue rose 13% to $594 million. Salomon's footwear sales exceeded $1 billion in 2024. The Ball & Racquet Sports, represented by Wilson, generated $1.153 billion, a 4% increase. Q4 revenue grew by 22% year-over-year to $296 million.

During the earnings call, CFO Andrew Page addressed the topic of price hikes for Arc'teryx and Salomon, stating that no price increases are planned for 2025. However, Amer's core customers around the world are "pretty resilient". He added, " 'Raising prices has not been a lever that we are pulling. We do believe we have pricing power and we will continue to price competitively... but at the same time we do not want to detract our core consumer."

Amer Sports saw impressive performance in Greater China in 2024, benefiting from the outdoor sports trend, with revenue rising 53.7% year-over-year to $1.298 billion. In Q4, revenue grew 53.9% to $383 million. Revenue in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Greater China) also increased, with a 45.5% year-over-year jump to $512 million. Q4 revenue in this region grew 52.4% to $176 million. In EMEA, revenue grew 3.8% to $1.513 billion, with Q4 revenue up 8.1% to $491 million. In the Americas, revenue grew 6.5% to $1.859 billion, with Q4 revenue rising 15.1% to $584 million.

Despite the challenges in the Chinese consumer market, high-end outdoor brands in China are increasingly being seen as a "luxury alternative" by consumers. Andrew Page noted that the outdoor trend remains strong in China, attracting young, female, and even luxury consumers.

By Channel, the DTC channel has been a key driver for Amer Sports, and James Zheng considers it the core engine for growth and consumer engagement.

In 2024, DTC revenue grew by 42.7% year-over-year to $2.267 billion. During Q4, Arc'teryx opened eight new stores, six of which were in China. Salomon expanded aggressively in Greater China, opening 31 new stores in Q4, bringing its total to 196 stores in the region. Wholesale revenue for 2024 was $832 million, up 5.8%.

Despite exceeding expectations in FY2024, Amer Sports remains cautious about FY2025, forecasting a slowdown in revenue growth to around 13% to 15%, with gross margin expected to be between 56.5% and 57.0%. For individual segments, the company expects the Technical Apparel to grow around 20%, the Outdoor Performance to see low double-digit growth, and the r Ball & Racquet Sports to experience low to mid-single-digit growth, all of which are lower than 2024’s growth.