Dear investors, good afternoon. Welcome to the 2020 annual results presentation by Anta Sports Products Limited. Please allow me to first introduce to you members of the management online. They include Mr. Ding Shizhong, Chairman and CEO, and then Mr. James Zheng, Executive Director, Group President and CEO of the Outdoor Sports Brand Group. Mr. Lai Shixian, Executive Director and CFO. Mr. Wu Yonghua, Executive Director and CEO of the Performance Sports Brand Group. We will start with Mr. Lai's presentation on the performance for 2020, to be followed by Mr. Zheng's presentation on business review and outlook. Finally, during Q&A session, Mr. Ding and other members of the management will take your questions. We will first handle the questions from the telephone line. Let's invite Mr. Lai first. Dear investors, good afternoon.
I'm delighted to report to you our 2020 performance for ANTA Group. Although the 2020 results were affected by the pandemic, we got very good results, so I'm going to present the highlights. Our revenue for the year increased, and gross profit, operating profit for the whole year all showed positive growth. Our group revenue increased by 4.7% year-on-year. FILA's revenue grew 18.1% year-on-year, showcasing its capability of sustainable development. Third, both gross profit margin increased by 3.2 percentage points to 58.2%, and operating profit margin increased 0.2 percentage points to 25.8%, reached historical heights. These are achieved by the group's DTC strategy, effective cost control, and our maturing multi-brand business model, all showing fruitful results.
Fourthly, our operating profit margin increased 3.4 percentage points year-on-year in the second half of the year. So the pandemic took place in the first half, and we recovered very quickly in the second half. Fifthly, excluding foreign exchange loss of RMB 337 million, which is not related to group's operation, profit attributable to equity shareholders increased 2.9%. Net cash generated from operating activities amounted to RMB 7.5 billion, higher than the profit for the year. Number seven, free cash flow inflow for the year was RMB 60.6 billion, increased by RMB 200 million. Free cash inflow for second half of the year, RMB 4.7 billion, up 27%, reflecting the company's healthy cash-generating capacity under the pandemic.
Number eight, despite of the impact of inventory buyback for DTC transactions, full year inventory turnover days and trade receivables turnover days were improved versus interim data. Number nine, although the overseas markets were full of uncertainty amid the pandemic, AS Holding, the group's joint venture, which wholly owned Amer Sports, still showed a profit of RMB 118 million. Despite difficult situation, we achieved sustainable share price, performance, and stable dividend payout ratio. So in the past year, the management felt very satisfied by the performance. Let's look at the revenue situation. It went up by 4.7% to RMB 35.5 billion. There is a slight decrease for ANTA brand by 9.7%, mainly due to the proactive wholesale order cancellation due to the pandemic.
Secondly, sales return of ANTA-branded products arising from the adoption of the DTC model for ANTA business in certain regions. It was partially offset by the growth of e-commerce and increase in retail revenue. For the FILA brand, revenue grew by 18.1%. Despite the impact from the pandemic, there were certain store closures, but we expanded our efforts in the growth of e-commerce, so we sustained very good growth. For other brands, they are very much driven by our effort in the past year. We are talking about growth of 35%, mainly driven by third-party brands. Our gross profit margin grew by 3.2 percentage points to 58.2%, due to the increase in ANTA's segment gross profit margin and the increased contribution from retail business, with relatively higher gross profit margin after the adoption of the DTC model.
We also have increased contribution from FILA segment, with relatively higher gross profit margin, despite a slight decrease in gross profit margin. Operating profit margin up by 0.2 percentage points to 25.8%. The increase in ANTA segment operating profit margin was mainly attributable to the increase in gross profit margin, partially offset by the increase in ANTA segment's ratio of staff cost to revenue. Decrease in FILA segment operating margin was mainly attributable to the decrease in gross profit margin . . . In the past year, our staff cost also increased slightly. For other brands, we have turned losses into profits. Beginning from 2019, you can see -3.4% OP margin has been turned into a positive figure, 8.4%, showing good results.
Operating expenses ratios, A&P expenses dropped by 0.6 percentage points to 10% due to deferral of advertising and promotional activities and big store opening and renovation plans as a result of the pandemic. As for staff costs, it went up by 0.8 percentage points to 12.5%. This is due to salaries review and new hiring before the pandemic. Overall, staff wages was also higher than that in the same period of 2019. There was also some costs related to the grant of awarded shares to staff in the incentive scheme. R&D cost went up by 0.2 percentage points to 2.5%, which is rather stable. We continue to enhance our overall R&D capability. As for our joint venture, there were some losses, mainly due to the pandemic, so this is actually within our expectation.
For the entire group, the impact is about RMB 600 million. Profit attributable to equity shareholders dropped, therefore, by 1.3 percentage points to 14.5% due to increase in interest expenses and share of loss of a joint venture. Working capital management. The average inventory turnover days turned into 35 days. It went up by 35 days to 122 days due to increase the level of retail operations, especially after the adoption of the DTC model for the entire business in certain regions in mainland China. Average trade receivables turnover days increased by 5 days to 39 days. This is also within healthy and reasonable range. Average trade payables turnover days increased by 9 days to 66 days, within management's expectation again, and also at acceptable levels under the impact of the pandemic. Liquidity and financial resources.
Net operating cash inflow is higher than the profit for the year. It shows that there is healthy cash generation capability of the group despite the pandemic. Up to the end of the year, we have RMB 5.9 billion net cash, RMB 2.5 billion higher than the previous year. Net cash inflow, RMB 7.458 billion, similar the same as before. CapEx, RMB 200 million. So net cash inflow is actually two hundred million more compared to 2019. So these are the major performance on the financial side. We maintain healthy levels. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lai, for the presentation. Now, let's invite Mr. Zheng to talk about our business review and also future prospects. Mr. Zheng? Dear investors, good afternoon.
First of all, I want to thank you for taking time out of this busy day to participate in our announcement activity. Mr. Lai already presented the financial performance highlights of the group in 2020. So now I'm going to take over and talk about our business review for the past year, including our major initiatives. For 2020, it was a year of importance because of the transformation and the pandemic. The pandemic hit global economy. With the launch of vaccines, we can see that for 2021, economic recovery is very hopeful. 2020 was a year full of challenges, but China's performance was actually leading in the world. Our GDP grew by 2.3% year-over-year, and it increased by 6.5% in Q4. So I should say that China's recovery was in the leading position around the world.
At the same time, according to the newly announced Fourteenth Five-Year Plan, we're going to stimulate employment to increase household income and level of assets... to provide better social security network. All these measures have been promoting growth in consumption. So for the sports industry, we actually saw that most people now seek healthier lifestyle because of the pandemic. So for our industry, we are very important in promoting healthier lifestyle, and the government has expressed great support to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, creating a very positive environment for the sports industry. So yes, we've been hard hit by the pandemic, but in the second half, in mainland China, we have sustained very rapid recovery. If you look at the previous stages, there are four important stages. Between 2007 and 2010, we experienced extensive expansion, and then 2011 to 2014, transitional shock.
2015-2020, refined operation. Beginning from today or 2021, we can see that the industry is dominated by leading brands. The trends are becoming more apparent. Our market share, together with some other leading brands, have exceeded 60%, so the strong players will only become stronger. If you look at the group, all along, we have been upholding our vision and mission, which is to become a respectable world-class multi-brand sportswear group, and we want to integrate the sports spirit of going beyond oneself into every day's daily life. In the first half, we wanted to use dynamic management to respond to the impacts brought by the pandemic. In terms of overall management and control, we have seen very good results already due to our initiatives. We sustained growth for seven consecutive years.
At the same time, we ensure that profitability is safeguarded despite all these great challenges. For 2020 output of the group, it proves that our strategy set in 2016 were very accurate. We use single focus, multi-brand, omni-channel strategies so that in the market, with fierce competition, we are able to stand out. And we have this differentiated and mature omni-channel strategy. We cover the entire consumer segment and the entire market segment, showcasing our competitive advantages, especially while facing the challenges of the pandemic. So at the moment, we have three obvious growth curves. One is led by ANTA, which focuses on mass professional, new national products. The other one is driven by FILA, focusing on fashion sports brand. And finally, driven by the DESCENTE sports and Amer Sports brands, including Salomon. This is high potential growth curve.
So at different stages of different curves, there will be strategies for different brands, so that all these curves will support our sustainable growth. Now, let's look at the ANTA brands. You can see in 2020, we encountered great challenges, but during the year, it was a very good opportunity for us to transform. We have prepared for a better future. We have reset our branding, and we have transformed our B2C model. We have started rebranding plan at the beginning of the year, established the position of a mass professional sports brand driven by technological innovation, and we switched from wholesale brand to retail-driven brand. We also made adjustments to a number of stores. We are now able to set up new stores to cater to different demands of consumer segments. We are also focusing more on entering shopping malls and outlets.
We also use e-commerce platforms, such as live streaming platforms and also private domain platforms. We also got well positioned for Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Olympics. We launched exclusive licensed collections, and we are also building a matrix of different technology products to penetrate in running segment. If you look at ANTA Kids' performance, it is consumer-centric strategy. We are opening a differentiated path. We use our in-depth research into children's sports habits, as well as at their growth characteristics. We launched functional product series in various sports and used advanced technologies. As for FILA, you can see despite the pandemic, we still grew by 18.1%. This very good growth is due to our insistence on three areas. We focus on high-end sportswear, so that it moves from individuals to families. Despite the pandemic, we built our core capabilities.
Our revenue was leading in the market. We focus on high-end and quality, healthy growth. We enhanced our competitive edge, and we did a lot of crossover collaboration with Maison Mihara and also Wilson. We received very good support. We also achieved breakthrough of footwear products. We exceeded sales volume of 10 million pairs for the first time. We also have omni-channel upgrade, enhancing our consumer experience, especially we launched our fifth generation stores. This also allowed us to, at the same time, upgrade our online offering. Our revenue nearly doubled. FILA KIDS and FILA FUSION under FILA, in the previous year, also got very good growth. Because of successful positioning and also branding support from the main brand, FILA. For youngsters and children, FILA brand has become more and more influential last year. For FILA KIDS and Fusion, we have done upgrading.
2.0 and 3.0 stores have been launched. For DESCENTE, it was another important highlight for the previous year. We are high-end sportswear, and we represent high level of influence among our consumers. The operation, the quality of the materials, and also exquisite know-how and experience offered to our consumers have been fully realized. So in 2020, our performance for all sports brands sustained the fastest growth. It also means that among high-end sportswear brands, we are truly standing out. On top of this foundation, we believe 2021 will be a better year. KOLON SPORT. We are repositioning it as premium outdoor lifestyle brand. We have redefined the brand as a premium outdoor lifestyle brand, and we reshuffled our team. Our profit has been well supported. So beginning from last year, despite the pandemic, there was a growth of 20%.
So for 2021, based on a foundation from last year, I expect Kolon Sport to show you another surprise. Mr. Lai already talked about Amer Sports. We are a global company. Despite the pandemic, we have been quite hard hit, but our core brands, especially Arc'teryx and Salomon, despite the pandemic, our business actually grew. So in our segment market, we continue to be the leader. At the same time, Amer Sports continued to realize EUR 5.1 billion euro store in the next five years. Our three brands will have to realize more than EUR 1 billion revenue in the next five years. Our D2C business also need to exceed EUR 1 billion. Mainland market needs to exceed EUR 1 billion as well. There is no change for our plan. We will continue to push forward to reach the EUR 5.1 billion targets.
As for our distribution network, we continue to transform and upgrade. Last year, we focused on quality upgrade and quantity, and also improvement of efficiency of our stores, infiltration of our business, so as to realize stabilization of offline shops, and we target different channels and different consumer segments to enhance our overall operating standards. DTC model was one very important measure. Beginning from August, we started this DTC model transformation so that we can connect different channels and deepen our values for our consumers. In different scenarios, we offer differentiated operations. We offer personalized experience for our users. We continue to enhance product efficiency, and towards the end of this month, we should be able to complete all DTC transformation work. For online business, actually, last year, it was one important highlight. Our growth was 53%. We optimized omni-channel.
We utilized all-staff retail and live streaming, plus e-commerce, making the best out of consumer viewership. We will continue to use online business as our major driver. It is going to be an important growth engine, and for the next five years, by 2025, online business should take up about more than 40% of group revenue. Another initiative is about digitalization. We have set our relevant strategy, and we have four major areas. At the same time, we have done a lot of effective propelling forward, and we upgraded our website and enhanced our technological know-how. In terms of our supply chain, we continued to focus on high efficiency operations. After setting up our data center, we drove product management to increase product efficiency. We are also focusing on internal production and also outsourcing work.
We are talking about the proportion for ANTA at 27%, FILA 28%, and 3.7% for FILA's self-produced footwear and apparel out of our total quantities. So the business review for ANTA Group has just been presented. Looking into 2021, we have already mentioned our industry is highly adaptive. It is still performing and blooming despite the pandemic. We have four major strategies for 2021, and we trust that we can achieve new heights. 2021 is also our 30th anniversary, so we want to create even greater value and performance and healthy developments in the next three decades. We are going to face dual Olympics branding impact, referring to Tokyo Olympics and also 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. They will be very important for our sales. We'll continue to deepen and upgrade our brands.
Beginning from August last year, we successfully completed our preset targets. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on DTC initiatives and enhance our channel standards so that overall efficiency can be enhanced. We will continue to focus on online business and its growth. This is going to be a main competitive arena. In the next 5 years, this is going to be one important growth engine. Finally, last year, we set our digitalization targets and the implementation of 4 important projects. 2021 will be important for all 4 initiatives and their implementations. I have taken you through our overall business review for 2020 and also our prospects for 2021. Thank you very much.