China's ANTA Sports H1 profit rises 17% on growth in kids' goods, online ops

China's ANTA Sports Products Ltd on Monday posted a 17 percent rise in first-half net profit due to solid growth in its children's line of products and e-commerce business, as the country's sports sector recovers from years of sluggish demand.

ANTA, China's biggest sportswear retailer by market value, said net profit rose to 1.1 billion yuan ($165 million) for the six months through June, from 965.3 million yuan a year earlier. That compared with the 1.12 billion yuan average of three analyst estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters.

The company also said in a statement it plans to have up to 8,700 ANTA stores and 750 FILA stores by year-end, up from 8,510 and 687 respectively at the end of June. It also plans to expand its online business.

"In light of the strong growth on e-commerce platforms, we will introduce more online exclusive products, (and) enhance our partnerships with popular e-commerce platform operators," ANTA said.

Revenue rose 20.2 percent to 6.1 billion yuan, and its gross profit margin increased 1.3 percentage point to 47.9 percent.

Earlier in August, smaller rival Li Ning Co Ltd said it had returned to profit in the first half of 2016 helped by a surge in online sales and an expanded sales network, maintaining momentum for a long-sought recovery.

$1 = 6.6705 Chinese yuan renminbi