Xtep posts record interim profit as China’s marathon boom boosts sales of Saucony shoes

Net profit rose to a record 913.6 million yuan (US$127.3 million) in the first half, 6.4 per cent more than the revised interim earnings last year, Xtep said in a statement on Monday. Sales increased 7.1 per cent to 6.84 billion yuan, from the restated revenue of 6.38 billion yuan last year.

While Xtep’s mass-market namesake brand contributed 88.5 per cent of the company’s revenue, its professional segment – Saucony and Merrell – reported the sharpest sales growth, jumping 32.5 per cent to 785.1 million yuan. Interim operating profit from the two brands more than tripled to 78.6 million yuan, vindicating the 2023 move by the Xiamen-based company to take full control of the brands’ distribution in China.

Xtep’s “professional-to-mass” influence has been successful in several of China’s major marathon races, giving the company the drive to “maximise the synergies” between the mass-market and high-end brands, chairman and CEO Ding Shuipo said during a post-earnings press conference.