上周四，安德瑪發(fā)布了一則好消息，公司的庫(kù)存水平有所改善，而公司的利潤(rùn)率也因此得到了保護(hù)。

壞消息在于，隨著這家體育用品制造商減少折扣力度，并更加關(guān)注銷售的產(chǎn)品和場(chǎng)所，安德瑪?shù)谋泵冷N售業(yè)績(jī)?cè)诘谒募径壤^續(xù)下滑，在截至12月31日的季度下跌了6%，超過(guò)了安德瑪近幾個(gè)季度的跌幅。這個(gè)業(yè)績(jī)與耐克相比可謂是十分慘淡，因?yàn)槟涂嗽谧罱刂?1月30日的季度斬獲了9%的增幅。北美市場(chǎng)是安德瑪目前最大的市場(chǎng)，占公司總業(yè)務(wù)量的71%。

安德瑪正努力恢復(fù)其北美業(yè)務(wù)的增長(zhǎng)

這家體育產(chǎn)品公司正想法設(shè)法解決北美本土業(yè)務(wù)存在的問(wèn)題。

The good news from Under Armour (uaa, -3.56%) on Tuesday was that it is getting a better handle on inventory levels, and by extension, protecting profit margins.

The bad news is that sales in North America—its biggest market by far, generating about 71% of Under Armour’s total business—continued to fall in the fourth quarter, as the sports gear maker reins in discounting and is more selective about what it sells and where, slipping 6% in the quarter ended December 31. That was a deeper fall than Under Armour’s declines in recent quarters, and a dismal performance compared to Nike (nke, +1.21%), where it rose 9% in its most recent quarter, one that ended November 30.

Under Armour Is Struggling to Get Back to Growth in N. America

The sports company is looking to fix its business at home.

但北美的業(yè)績(jī)?cè)从诎驳卢敒橥旎仄漕j勢(shì)而喝下的一劑猛藥。根據(jù)2017年公布的重組計(jì)劃（隨后修訂過(guò)幾次），安德瑪一直在通過(guò)重組業(yè)務(wù)來(lái)控制成本，降低庫(kù)存，并加速其產(chǎn)品上市時(shí)間以更快地根據(jù)需求進(jìn)行調(diào)整，同時(shí)收斂了對(duì)利潤(rùn)率有負(fù)面影響的折扣舉措。

從這一方面來(lái)講，安德瑪已經(jīng)取得了一些成果：第四季度，總利潤(rùn)率增長(zhǎng)了1.6個(gè)百分點(diǎn)，達(dá)到了銷售額的45%，幫助公司扭虧為盈。公司第四季度凈收益達(dá)到了420萬(wàn)美元，作為對(duì)比，公司去年同期虧損了8800萬(wàn)美元。第四季度總銷售額增長(zhǎng)了1.5%，達(dá)到了13.9億美元，得益于歐洲和亞洲銷售額的大幅增長(zhǎng)抵消了北美的業(yè)務(wù)頹勢(shì)。

但安德瑪依然面臨著比利潤(rùn)問(wèn)題更加嚴(yán)重的營(yíng)收問(wèn)題，而且其煩惱根植于自己的故土北美。公司預(yù)計(jì)今年北美銷售額不會(huì)發(fā)生變化或最多出現(xiàn)4%的增長(zhǎng)。盡管這個(gè)增幅依然算不上有多出眾，但考慮到當(dāng)前的趨勢(shì)，耐克和阿迪達(dá)斯的強(qiáng)勢(shì)增長(zhǎng)，以及Lululemon Athleta在運(yùn)動(dòng)裝備領(lǐng)域的持續(xù)走紅，要實(shí)現(xiàn)這一點(diǎn)也絕非易事。

安德瑪首席執(zhí)行官凱文·普蘭克對(duì)分析師明確表示，他認(rèn)為成功秘訣在于，公司應(yīng)專注于為裝備配備有助于提升運(yùn)動(dòng)員表現(xiàn)的技術(shù)，以及品牌的原創(chuàng)理念，而不是跟風(fēng)模仿任何競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。

他對(duì)華爾街的分析師說(shuō)：“公司今天的弱點(diǎn)實(shí)際上將成為我們未來(lái)最大的優(yōu)勢(shì)。世界并不需要另一個(gè)品牌的翻版，哪怕這種模仿在眼下可能依然行得通?！卑驳卢?shù)墓蓛r(jià)上漲了5%，顯示了投資者開(kāi)始對(duì)公司重拾信心。盡管如此，公司目前21美元的股價(jià)還不到4年前的五分之一，而這也預(yù)示了安德瑪未來(lái)道路的艱辛。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

But the North American results stem from the tough medicine Under Armour has been taking to right its business. Under a restructuring plan unveiled in 2017, which it has tweaked a few times, Under Armour has sought to restructure operations to rein in costs, keep leaner inventories and speed up its time to product to adjust more quickly to demand, and rein in margin-harming discounts.

And on that front, Under Armour has scored some points: In the fourth quarter, gross margin profit rose 1.6 percentage points to 45% of sales, helping it return to profit. The company posted a net income of $4.2 million for the quarter, compared to an $88 million loss a year earlier. Total sales during the quarter rose 1.5% to $1.39 billion, lifted by big gains in Europe and Asia that offset weakness at home.

But Under Armour faces a top line problem, much more than a bottom line one. And its troubles reside firmly at home. The company expects sales in North America to be unchanged to up as much as 4% this year, still tepid. But that won’t be easy, considering its current trends, and the strong growth at Nike and Adidas, not to mention the ongoing success of Lululemon Athleta in athletic gear. (lulu, +5.10%)

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank made it clear to analysts that in his mind, the path to success will be to focus on the technical aspects of its gear that enhance an athlete’s performance, the original raison d’être of the brand, rather than becoming a pale version of any rival.

“Weakness for us today is actually going to be our greatest strength,” he told Wall Street analysts. “The world doesn’t need another version of a brand that may be working today.” Under Armour shares rose 5%, showing the renewed faith investors are starting to develop. Then again, at $21, shares are barely one-fifth where they were four years ago, confirming the tough slog ahead for Under Armour.