HONG KONG, May 25 (Reuters) - China's Belle International Holdings Ltd said annual net profit fell 38 percent as more and more consumers shift to athleisure products and away from traditional fashion footwear and dress shoes.
Net profit declined to 2.93 billion yuan ($447 million) for the year ended in February from 4.76 billion yuan a year ago.
Belle in March warned of a 35 percent to 45 percent drop in annual profit.
"The current predicaments of the group are closely related to changes in consumer taste and shifting style preferences," Chief Executive Officer Sheng Baijiao said in a statement.
Belle, which distributes sportswear for firms such as Nike , Adidas, PUMA and Converse, saw revenue rise 2 percent to 40.79 billion yuan.
Sportswear revenue jumped 16.2 percent while footwear sales slid 8.5 percent.
Its footwear business accounted for 52 percent of total revenue, while sportswear was 48 percent. Its gross profit margin declined to 56.3 percent from 57.5 percent a year ago.
The company directly managed 20,873 retail outlets in China at end-February, including 13,762 footwear and 7,111 sportswear outlets. It operated 20,557 outlets a year ago.
Shares of Belle are down 18 percent so far this year, versus a 9.5 percent drop in benchmark index.
($1 = 6.5552 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)