Xtep International Holdings Limited provided preliminary unaudited consolidated earnings guidance for the year ended 31 December 2021. For the year, the company expects expected to record a significant increase of not less than 70% in its consolidated profit attributable to ordinary equity holders of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2021 as compared to that for the year ended 31 December 2020. Such increase was primarily due to the following factors: A strong increase in consolidated revenue for the Year driven by an over 30% growth in core Xtep brand's revenue in second half of 2021 due to robust sales orders from distributors following successful launch of signature functional and lifestyle products and retail channel upgrade during the Year; accelerated revenue growth of the core Xtep brand's e-commerce and kids' businesses given their respective completed restructurings from branding, products to operations.

An expansion in the gross profit margin of the core Xtep brand primarily attributable to continual effort in product innovations and better product offerings; and a lower base of comparison triggered by the one-off inventory buy-back in the first half of 2020.