German sportswear company Adidas expects robust sales growth in 2015 as its golf business improves and consumer confidence recovers, while net profit should rise faster still despite exchange rate hits and higher marketing spending.
The world's second-biggest sportswear group after Nike hopes to more than compensate for the non-recurrence of sales from last year's soccer World Cup thanks to strong momentum at its main Adidas and Reebok brands, a recovery at its revamped golf unit and an expansion of retail selling space.
"We will see sales increases across all our brands, despite tough comparison with the 2014 World Cup year as well as the geopolitical crisis in Ukraine," Chief Executive Herbert Hainer said in a statement.
Adidas expects 2015 sales to rise at a mid single-digit percentage rate on a currency neutral basis, after a 6 percent increase in 2014, while net profit from continuing operations should climb 7-10 percent.
Adidas' 2014 results were hit by problems at its TaylorMade golf business as the popularity of the sport waned in the US market. It was also hurt by the weakness of the rouble as the Russian market is one of its biggest.
However, sales in North America showed signs of improvement in the fourth quarter after Adidas increased its marketing efforts, including signing top basketball players, rising 3 percent after falling 10 percent in the first nine months.
While it had already reported headline figures for the fourth quarter, it said on March 05 it made a net loss attributable to shareholders of 140 million euros ($155 million), including goodwill impairment losses related to the sale of its Rockport brand.
Adidas said last month its board had launched a formal search for a successor to long-serving CEO Hainer who has faced criticism as the company has lost ground to Nike.
Hainer is due to launch a new five-year strategic plan on March 26 together with his two most likely successors, global brand chief Eric Liedtke and sales boss Roland Auschel.