German sports brand Adidas achieved a 16 % turnover increase in 2017, if exchange rates had remained stable. Profit nearly grew a third and the company forecast a 10 % growth for 2018.
“A strong year”
The company’s 2017 turnover reached 21.22 billion euro, which is a 15 % increase after exchange rate fluctuations. It achieved growth in nearly every region: China (+ 29 %) and North America (+ 27 %) performed very well. Western Europe and Latin America grew 13 and 12 % respectively, but it had to deal with a 13 % setback in Russia, partially because it shut down a number of stores there. E-commerce was another important area of growth, with a 57 % turnover increase.
The strong turnover surge also impacted Adidas’ profit: operational profit grew 31 % to 2.07 billion euro and its net profit grew 32 % to 1.43 billion euro. “2017 was a strong year – financially and operationally. We made great progress toward achieving our mission to be the best sports company in the world”, CEO Kasper Rorsted said.
The brand forecast another year of growth in 2018, albeit not as strongly as in 2017. Adidas hopes to increase turnover some 10 % and forecasts a 13 to 17 % net profit increase. By 2020, the company hopes to increase its turnover to 26 billion euro.
That is why it has decided to buy back about 3 billion euros’ worth of shares by 2021. The first part of that plan will be launched on 22 March, when it will try to buy back about 1 billion euros’ worth of shares.
