Adidas begins marathon turnaround in North America

German sportswear company Adidas turned around its sales in North America in the first quarter, helped by a marketing campaign designed to win business from dominant rival Nike . Adidas said group sales rose 17 percent to 4.08 billion euros ($4.54 billion), or 9 percent excluding the impact of currencies, beating an average analyst forecast for 3.91 billion and lifting its shares more than 1 percent. Despite the hike in marketing spending, Adidas increased its operating margin by 10 basis points to 8.9 percent, still well behind the 13 percent achieved by Nike last year. Long-serving Chief Executive Herbert Hainer, who faced calls to quit last year as Adidas lost more ground to Nike, said the sales improvement was broad-based, with particularly strong growth in the running and fashion businesses.

Continue reading...