German sports brand Adidas has had a victorious quarter because of the World Cup football. Total turnover rose 4 % to 5.26 billion euro, a hefty 3.2 billion coming from shoe sales. Operational profit climbed 17 % to 592 million euro.
Reebok falls to ground
The influence of the World Cup was especially big in Russia, the host country of the tournament: turnover there jumped from 119 million euro in the first quarter to 177 million in the second. Other areas also saw significant growth: in North America, turnover went up 16 % and in Asia that was even 19 % (with a Chinese +27 % as a highlight). Western Europe however saw no growth.
“We delivered another strong quarter on the back of a successful World Cup activation“, a jubilant CEO Kasper Rorsted said. “Our profitable growth was once again driven by our strategic focus areas North America, Greater China and e-commerce, while we continued to invest into the desirability of our brands and the scalability of our business.” Indeed, e-commerce revenue went up 26 %.
Adidas’ second brand Reebok fared far less well: turnover went down 3 % to a lowly 387 million euro, despite a growth of the Classics series.
