Lyon: Maintaining Anta Sports (02020)'s “Outperform the Market” rating and completing the acquisition of about 29% of Puma's shares at a target price of HK$110

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Lyon released a research report stating that it maintains Anta Sports (02020)'s “outperform the market” rating and target price of HK$110 and lists it as the preferred stock. Anta Sports announced on October 7 that it has completed the acquisition of 29.06% of Puma's shares for 1.51 billion euros, becoming its largest shareholder. The transaction valuation corresponds to the 2027 forecast ratio of about 0.8 times the corporate value to sales ratio and about 0.7 times the 2025 market-sales ratio. Anta is expected to secure two seats on the Puma Supervisory Board, as Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively, but it will not directly manage day-to-day operations, nor will it fully control or merge Puma.

Lyon pointed out that the completion of the deal will add another global brand to the Anta Group brand. Currently, Puma's sales in Greater China account for only about 7% of its total sales, far lower than 17% to 30% of the global sportswear industry, and there is still potential for growth. The bank believes that Puma's sales continued to improve in the third and fourth quarters, and gross margin expanded year-on-year in the second half of the year. Currently, the bank expects Anta Sports' adjusted net profit compound annual growth rate of about 12% from 2026 to 2028.