Aiden He
Anta Sports Products (2020) said it will propose a special interim dividend of 30 HK cents and pledged to invest more than 20 billion yuan (HK$24.48 billion) to support proprietary R&D and innovation in the next 10 years.
The Chinese sportswear firm said the proposal was to celebrate its 30th anniversary and it has sufficient cash surplus and stable free cash flow. But it also warned that the dividend is subject to approval by the board of directors at the December 30 meeting and may not materialize.
Anta said in a separate filing that it wants to recognize the contribution made by employees by granting awarded shares to some of them and intends to issue not more than 12 million new shares for share award. Based on its closing price of HK$114.7 on Friday, the amount is equivalent to HK$1.38 billion.
The company also released its new 10-year strategies in which it said it will strive to achieve value creation through mutualism with its stakeholders, promote sustainable development, and common prosperity across four key areas: consumers, partners, environment and society.
In its vision, Anta will invest over 20 billion yuan by 2030 to integrate and consolidate the world's leading innovation, design, technologies, academic research and supplier resources, upgrade its global technology innovation centers, and support the products that are "created in China" to reach a international leading position.
Anta also said the founder's family intends to donate 10 billion yuan in cash and shares to establish the Hemin Foundation, which is dedicated to public welfare projects in medical assistance, sports development, rural vitalization, and environmental protection.
