The world's second-biggest sporting goods
maker, Adidas, unveiled record profits for 2011 Wednesday, and said
its hopes for another big boost to its business in the coming 12
months from this year's Olympics and the Euro 2012 football
championships.
"There is always great buzz and excitement around major sports
events and they don't come bigger than the London 2012 Olympic Games
and the UEFA Euro 2012," said Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer.
The German company said net profits rose 18.2 percent to 671 million
euros ($881 million) in 2011, boosted by strong demand in
North America and China -- the world's two biggest economies.
Adidas is expecting sales to climb between 5 and 9 percent this
year, boosted by the Olympics, which open in London in July and the
June European football championships in Poland and the Ukraine.
With Adidas the official sponsor of the football championships,
the group expects sales this year from football items to surpass the
record 1.5 billion euros it posted last year. Adidas also plans to be
"the most visible brand" at the games in London.
The group, which forecasts net profit to rise to between 736 and
770 million euros this year, also pointed to growing demand in the
world's emerging markets -- in particular China and Russia -- as
helping to drive earnings in the coming 12 months.
"Despite the high degree of uncertainty regarding the global
economic outlook and consumer spending, sales development will be
favourably impacted by the group's high exposure to fast-growing
emerging markets," the company said.
But investors appear to have been hoping that the staging of the
Olympics and the euro football championships would prove to be an
even bigger win for the group.
As a result, Adidas shares slumped following the release of the
results. By late morning, its shares were down about 2 percent at
56.96 euros in trading in Frankfurt.
Adidas, which is the world's biggest sporting goods maker after
US-based Nike, said net profit in the fourth quarter more than
doubled to 18 million euros on the back of a 11.3 percent gain in
sales.
