Adidas has raised its profit forecasts for the second time this year after a successful football World Cup campaign bolstered a rebound in sales according to the FT.
The interest in the World Cup is set to lift Adidas’s football-related sales to more than €1.5bn this year, surpassing the previous best of €1.3bn in 2008.
As a World Cup sponsor, Adidas provided referees and officials’ kit while also supplying 12 of the 32 teams including the winners Spain. The shirts of Germany, Argentina and Mexico are among the company’s bestsellers.
While some of the star players sponsored by Adidas had poor tournaments, others including Spain’s Iker Casillas and Uruguay’s Diego Forlan won individual awards for their performances. Adidas also got plenty of exposure for its new Jabulani ball that was used in the tournament.
First half sales rose 7 per cent on a “currency neutral” basis to €5.6bn, growing everywhere except in China. Adidas said group sales on the same basis would increase at a “mid-single-digit rate” for the year. |