China’s Anta strikes gold with Eileen Gu-mania

China Mengniu Dairy

11/02/2022 02:48

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are their own.)
    HONG KONG, Feb 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Team China’s
Eileen Gu is winning over local sports fans and investors alike.
Mainland stocks associated with the American-born freestyle
skier and fashion model rallied this week as she ascended the
podium at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, including her
sponsor China Mengniu Dairy  2319.HK . Traders even piled into
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2UJ2FN internet-of-things specialist Invengo Information
Technology  002161.SZ , whose Chinese name sounds like “look out
for Gu”.
    The $45 billion Anta Sports  2020.HK  is the clearest
winner. Its shares are up 67% since signing Gu as its brand
ambassador in January 2020. The company, which led a roughly
$5.2 billion takeover of Finnish ski-wear specialist Amer in
2018, is betting that China’s nascent winter sports market will
take off following the games. Online sales of ski goggles, ice
hockey sticks and more have surged  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2S106W recently. At a
punchy 30 times forecast 2022 earnings though, Anta shares are
performing some risky feats. (By Thomas Shum) 
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 (Editing by Robyn Mak and Katrina Hamlin)
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