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Herzogenaurach (dpa) - The sporting goods manufacturer Adidas recorded strong growth at the start of the year, thanks in part to the Chinese market. The company defied corona restrictions and logistics problems in the first three months and was more optimistic about the development of revenues in the current year. "We are now even more confident that we will see a strong recovery in our sales development, even if the environment is not yet back to normal," said CEO Kasper Rorsted. The profit forecast was only confirmed due to rising freight and raw material costs.
Adidas significantly exceeded experts' expectations in the first quarter. Revenues rose by 20 percent to just under 5.3 billion euros, as the company announced on Friday in Herzogenaurach. Adjusted for currency effects, the increase was 27 percent. The lockdowns in Europe and industry-wide delivery problems would have impacted currency-adjusted sales growth, it said. The direct business with end customers recorded further growth, the revenues from this rose by 31 percent and accounted for more than a third of total sales. The development was driven by online trading, whose sales increased by 43 percent.
The group benefited from the strong development in China.
But things went better in other regions too.
The operating result rose from 48 million euros in the previous year to 704 million euros.
The bottom line was that 502 million euros remained in the continued business.
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The US subsidiary Reebok, which is up for sale, is no longer included in the figures.
Adidas is in the middle of the sales process and is talking to many interested parties, said CFO Harm Ohlmeyer.
The interested parties are not limited to the industry.
Management is aiming for a conclusion by the end of the year.
After the strong start to the year, the group expects a currency-adjusted increase in sales in the high tens of percent range and is thus aiming for the upper end of its previous forecast.
For the second quarter, Adidas sees a significant acceleration in growth and expects sales to increase by around 50 percent at local currency.
One of the growth drivers will continue to be China, said Rorsted.
Although he admitted that there was a “weakening of the recovery” in the region in April, he expects strong growth for the current year.
Most recently, there were calls to boycott Western brands on social media in China due to human rights criticism - also against Adidas or rivals Puma and Nike.
Puma boss Björn Gulden had said that relations with China had strained business from March.
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Adidas confirmed the earnings forecast.
Problems such as higher freight costs and a tense situation in freight capacities were a burden.
In addition, there would be higher raw material prices.
The bottom line is that the management continues to calculate with an increase to 1.25 to 1.45 billion euros in the continued business.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210507-99-506775 / 2
Press release Adidas