Duan Shijie (L), vice president of China Olympic Committee (COC), and Ding Shizhong, CEO of Anta Sports Products Company, pose a photo on Jan 17, 2013, in the signing ceremony to empower Anta as sportswear cooperative partner for COC from 2013 to 2016. [Photo / xmnn.cn]

Anta Sports Products Company, headquartered in Xiamen, Fujian province, released its 2014 performance report in Hong Kong on Feb 11.

Its revenue in 2014 amounted to 8.92 billion yuan ($1.43 billion), an increase of 22.5 percent for the company compared to 2013 and a new record. The net profit amounted to 1.7 billion yuan, growing 29.3 percent on 2013.

Anta had 7,622 chain shops in operation by the end of 2014, stocking different brands for different targeted customers, for example, FILA for the middle and high-end consumer group and NBA for basketball enthusiasts.

Anta started cooperation with the China Olympic Committee in 2009. Chinese athletes wore Anta’s dragon-patterned sportswear in the Sochi winter Olympics and Inchon Asia Olympics, bringing the brand tremendous media exposure.

Anta now is retail oriented, and is expected to achieve 10 billion yuan in revenue in 2015, which is a unprecedented number for Chinese sportswear companies, according to Ding Shizhong, CEO of Anta.

Ding, with personal assets of 7.3 billion, ranked 3rd place among Xiamen residents, according to the 2015 Hurun global rich list issued by the Hurun Research Institute on Feb 3.