Asics sees record Q1 as all regions boom

Japanese sports giant Asics has reported its Q1 results and said it achieved record sales as the “normalisation of social and economic activities is progressing with in-person sporting events having truly reopened and people able to move freely for the first time in several years”.

Net sales were ¥152.2 billion (€1bn/£891m/$1.1bn) in the January to March period, the highest ever for a first quarter (excluding irregular accounting periods for FY2014), growing by 44.6% year on year in total and by 35% currency-neutral.

Net sales of Onitsuka Tiger increased by 38.8% year on year to ¥12.1 billion due to increased revenue in the Japan region, “which is experiencing a trend of recovery in inbound net sales, [and] the Southeast and South Asia regions, which are experiencing tremendous growth”.

In Japan, company-wide net sales rose 61.9% while in Greater China they were up 41.2%, and the Southeast/South Asia regions (“one of the company’s future growth drivers”) increased by 91.1%, “demonstrating significant growth in each region”. 

The company also said e-commerce sales grew by 45.1% year on year to ¥22.2 billion.

Despite deteriorating foreign exchange rates in purchasing goods, the gross profit ratio improved by 0.3 points year on year to 50.2%, “demonstrating our success with optimising selling prices”.

Operating income was ¥22.1 billion, the highest ever for the first quarter, more than doubling on the year. Ordinary income increased 99.3% to ¥21.9 billion, and net profit increased 86.9% to ¥16.3 billion.

The firm’s EMEA division added that it saw record revenues as well with a 30.2% year on year rise (excluding Onitsuka Tiger) and an operating income margin of 15%.

The region saw profitable growth across all its categories in Q1, including Performance Running, Tennis, Indoor and SportStyle. 

Wholesale channels reported year on year growth of 34.4% with significant increases in Benelux (45.2%), France (69.5%), Germany (39.2%), Iberia (55.5%), Italy (57%), Sweden (55.1%) and the UK (15.6%) versus Q1 2022.  

EMEA e-commerce growth was 31.9%.

The region’s CEO Carsten Unbehaun said: “This has been an incredibly strong financial quarter. As we look ahead, despite the challenging market circumstances, we remain confident. We continue to drive new product innovation and are receiving incredible product reviews and recommendations from consumers, experts and athletes.”