Adidas is pleased with its full-year 2011 sales, its chief financial officer told a German newspaper, as the world's second-largest maker of sports apparel targets record revenue. "We had raised the outlook several times in the course of the year and now can be very satisfied with the result," Robin Stalker told Boersen Zeitung newspaper in an interview published on January 7.
Adidas in November lifted its 2011 sales outlook on strong demand for its sporting goods in emerging markets and as it expands its high margin brand-name stores. The world No 2 sports apparel maker behind Nike said at that time it expected full-year sales to increase by close to 12 percent, adjusted for currency swings, compared with a previous forecast for a rise of around 10 percent. Adidas is due to publish its 2011 results on March 7. The company has said it expects earnings per share growth of 10-15 percent in 2012, driven by the UEFA European soccer championship in Poland and Ukraine and the Olympic Games in London.
"In the year of the last soccer world cup championship in 2010 we had total soccer-related sales of 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion). You can assume we will surpass this level in 2012," Stalker said. The finance chief ruled out share buybacks and large take-overs. "We will continue to do only small acquisitions, like the recent one of outdoor brand Five Ten," Stalker said, referring to the US maker of shoes for climbing and biking, which Adidas said in November it was acquiring for $25 million.