Adidas continues growth in 2018

Herzogenaurach Germany — Sports equipment and shoemaker Adidas had sales of EUR 21.9bn in 2018. This is slightly up, by 3.3%, on the previous financial year.

Gross profit across the business rose by 6.5 % and reached EUR 11.4bn in the 2018 financial year.

'Record sales, the highest margin in our history, strong net income improvement — 2018 was another successful year for our company,' said CEO Kasper Rorsted.

Combined sales of the Adidas and Reebok brands grew at strong double-digit rates in both North America and Asia Pacific. In both of these regions, sales were up 15%.

A 23% increase in sales in greater China helped the Asia-Pacific numbers along, the company said.

Latin America sales were up 6%, and those in Russia increased by 1%. The 2018 FIFA World Cup helped Russian numbers, as World Cup-related sales offset store closures there.

Sales in Europe were flat compared to the previous year, while revenues in emerging markets declined by 3%.

The company managed to increase its gross margin by 1.4% through better pricing, more lucrative channels and more expensive products, as well as lower input costs. These more than offset the negative currency affects the company experienced during the year.

In 2018, marketing and point-of-sales expenses amounted to EUR 3bn. This is 10% up compared to 2017 and resulted from spending around the World Cup.

Looking ahead to 2019, the company expects sales to grow 5–8% on a currency-neutral basis.