HERZOGENAURACH (dpa-AFX) - Following a loss in 2023, Germany's largest sporting goods manufacturer Adidas wants to grow significantly again in the 2024 sports year with the European Football Championships and Olympic Games. "We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but I am very confident that we are on the right track," commented Group CEO Bjorn Gulden on Wednesday at the annual press conference in Herzogenaurach. "We will bring adidas back." However, this will take some time.

As already announced, currency-adjusted sales are expected to increase in the mid-single-digit range. Good sales of the relaunched traditional shoe models "Samba" and "Campus" should contribute to this. "We should already see some growth in the first quarter, but I expect growth to be stronger in the second half of the year," announced the Adidas CEO. Adidas would then like to see double-digit growth again in 2026.

Gulden, who moved from rival Puma to Adidas just over a year ago, also continues to expect an operating profit of 500 million euros - after 268 million euros in 2023. In the year of its 75th anniversary, the Franconian company also wants to be back in the black on the bottom line.

However, Adidas expects the first half of the year to be affected by the reduction of inventories in the North American market. "With the exception of the USA, we now have healthy inventories everywhere," says Gulden.

Like other sporting goods manufacturers, Adidas had built up excessive inventories during the coronavirus pandemic out of concern about delivery problems. Due to weak consumption, sales could often only be made at high discounts, which had a negative impact on earnings last year. Overall, Adidas was able to reduce its inventories by almost 1.5 billion euros in 2023.

While the company expects sales growth in all regions in 2024, the North American market is likely to decline again.

The DAX-listed share initially experienced a rollercoaster ride. The share price initially rose to a high for the year of EUR 195.20, but then slipped by up to four percent. However, this did not last long, as the shares made up for the discount in the end. In the afternoon, the share price hovered around the previous day's close.

JPMorgan analyst Olivia Townsend was slightly positive about the details of the annual results. This applies, among other things, to the statement that there is growth in the current first quarter. The recovery in the shoe business is also to be welcomed. In addition, prices are developing favorably for the sporting goods group.

Last year, the general weakness in consumption, the reduction in inventories and negative currency effects had a negative impact on development. The company recorded a loss from continuing operations of 58 million euros, following a profit of 254 million euros in the previous year

The sporting goods manufacturer also justified this first loss since 1992 with an "unusually high" tax rate. The fourth quarter was particularly weak, with a loss from continuing operations of 482 million euros due to negative effects from the devaluation of the Argentinian peso, among other things. Nevertheless, Adidas intends to pay its shareholders a dividend of 0.70 euros per share, as in the previous year.

Adidas already presented preliminary figures for 2023 at the end of January, which have now been confirmed. Sales fell by five percent to 21.4 billion euros and stagnated after currency adjustments. The operating result fell by almost 60 percent to 268 million euros. Months ago, Gulden had even feared a negative operating result for 2023. This was mainly due to the turbulence surrounding rapper Kanye West's lifestyle products.

Following racist and sexist comments made by West, Adidas terminated the collaboration at the end of 2022 and began selling off the previously highly successful products in 2023. Sales of over 1.2 billion euros with West's Yeezy products in 2022 fell to 750 million euros in 2023. For the current year, 250 million euros are still expected./nas/dm/mne/mis