May 14 (Reuters) - On Holding ( ONON ) raised its annual

sales forecast on Tuesday, after beating expectations for the

first quarter, as the sportswear maker's focus on selling

premium-priced products and bringing in newer items helped

attract customers.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Major sportswear companies have been grappling with

dwindling sales after wholesalers in the U.S. and Europe started

to cut back on inventory as higher costs of living limited

customer spending on pricey footwear and apparel.

But wholesale retailers have opened up shelf spaces for

upstart brands such as On and Deckers Outdoor's ( DECK ) Hoka,

which have emerged successful and been able to pull in customers

through innovative product lines at a time when name brands like

Nike ( NKE ) and Adidas are taking a hit.

CONTEXT

On has launched several products such as Cloudmonster 2,

Cloudspark and Cloudsurfer Trail this year in the running and

performance shoe category and is expanding into training and

tennis footwear segments.

The company aims to open more directly owned stores as

demand remains strong even at elevated price levels compared to

bigger brands.

KEY QUOTES

"(United States) still very positive is what we see in the

sellouts both on our channel as well as with the key account

partners," said Martin Hoffmann, co-CEO and CFO, On Holding ( ONON ).

William Blair analyst Dylan Carden said, "This is a healthy

print across all facets and segments of the business ... with a

cleaner inventory position and growth continuing to favor the

DTC channel, On continues to be in better control of its own

fate."

MARKET REACTION

U.S.-listed shares of Roger Federer-backed On Holding were

up 10% in premarket trading.

BY THE NUMBERS

On expects full-year 2024 reported net sales of at least CHF

2.29 billion ($2.52 billion), versus CHF 2.25 billion forecast

earlier.

First-quarter sales rose 20.9% to CHF 508.2 million,

compared with LSEG estimates of CHF 497.4 million.

Quarterly adjusted profit per share of CHF 0.33 also beat

estimates of CHF 0.14.

($1 = 0.9073 Swiss francs)