Adidas more than doubles quarterly profit

German sporting goods provider Adidas AG had a successful start to the 2025 financial year. After the company had already published key data a few days ago, it presented its full results on Tuesday and reported strong increases in sales and earnings.

In the months from January to March, group sales reached 6.15 billion euros, an increase of 12.7 percent compared to the first quarter of the previous year. Adjusted for exchange rate changes, revenues grew by 13 percent.

Revenues increase in all market regions

The company owed the significant increase to strong demand for products from the main Adidas brand and increases in all market regions. In Europe, sales rose by 14.6 percent (currency-adjusted plus 14.0 percent) to 1.99 billion euros. In Latin America, revenues grew by 13.5 percent (currency-adjusted plus 26.2 percent) to 698 million euros; in the emerging markets segment, they even increased by 22.3 percent (currency-adjusted plus 23.4 percent) to 870 million euros.

In China, the company increased its growth rate. There, sales rose by 14.7 percent (currency-adjusted plus 12.7 percent) to 1.03 billion euros. In Japan and South Korea, Adidas achieved an increase of 10.2 percent (currency-adjusted plus 12.8 percent) to 374 million euros.

Adidas can significantly increase its quarterly result

In North America, revenues grew by 5.5 percent (currency-adjusted plus 2.8 percent) to 1.18 billion euros. Adidas justified the comparatively low increase by saying that the revenue share of products from the now discontinued Yeezy brand had been comparatively high in the same quarter of the previous year. Adjusted for Yeezy revenues, sales in North America rose by 13 percent on a currency-adjusted basis. The company reiterated that the sale of the remaining Yeezy stock had been discontinued at the end of last year and, accordingly, no more sales with articles from the label would be recorded.

Thanks to sales growth and an improvement in the gross margin from 51.2 to 52.1 percent, which, according to the company, was “mainly due to lower product and freight costs and fewer discounts”, operating profit increased by 81.7 percent to 610 million euros compared to the same period of the previous year. The sporting goods provider was even able to more than double its net profit attributable to shareholders. It grew from 170 million euros to 428 million euros (plus 151.3 percent).

US customs policy creates uncertainty

Chief executive officer Bjørn Gulden was satisfied with the current figures. “I am very proud of what our team achieved in the first quarter,” he said in a statement. “Double-digit growth in all markets and all distribution channels in the currently volatile environment demonstrates the strength of our brand and underlines the excellent work our employees are doing.”

Looking to the near future, the chief executive officer also pointed to risks: “In a ‘normal world’, with this strong quarter, the solid order book and the overall very positive sentiment towards Adidas, we would have raised our outlook for the full year for both sales and operating profit. The uncertainty regarding the US tariffs prevents this at the moment,” Gulden emphasised.

As a result, the annual forecasts remained unchanged for the time being. For 2025, management continues to expect currency-adjusted sales growth in the high single-digit percentage range. Double-digit growth is expected for the core Adidas brand. Operating profit is expected to increase to between 1.7 and 1.8 billion euros.