Adidas once again posted stellar earnings results, reporting Q2 results strong enough for the company to raise its earnings guidance for 2017. Overall revenue for the company was up 19 percent, a number the brand says was driven by “double-digit increases in the running category as well as at Adidas Originals and Adidas Neo. High-single-digit growth in the training category also contributed to this development.”
“Based on the strong first half performance, we are raising our full-year guidance. We’ll grow both our top and our bottom line faster than originally anticipated,” said newbie Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted, who took on the roll in January 2016.
Global Adidas sales were up 20 percent, and Reebok continued to move in a positive direction with sales up a respectable five percent, aided by demand for its classic silhouettes. That said, Reebok sales were down in North America, where Adidas is in the process of closing many of its doors.
Growth for Adidas and Reebok was positive in all major regions except Russia. China sales led with an increase of 28 percent, while North America was closed behind with sales up 26 percent. Western European sales were up 19 percent.
Adidas said sales of its Originals product was up 36% though it acknowledged the growth of Superstar and Stan Smith had declined, a drop that was made up for by new franchises like NMD, Tubular and EQT.
Reflecting its rising profile and popularity, Adidas mentioned on its call it’s been inundated with job applications. “We have 330,000 applications alone in the [United States], last year we had more than a million for the company, and clearly [Adidas] is helping us to do so,” says Rorsted.
