By Linda Pasquini and Helen Reid
BERLIN, March 4 (Reuters) - German sportswear brand Adidas expects operating profit to increase to around 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) this year as a turnaround led by CEO Bjorn Gulden gathers pace.
Adidas extended Gulden's contract to 2030, in a vote of confidence in his strategy for the company that made a loss in 2023 but has since recovered, with net profit hitting 1.38 billion euros last year.
Gulden took over at the start of 2023 with a mandate to reboot Adidas
after its break-up with rapper Ye over his antisemitic comments caused a crisis, revealing how much the brand had relied on the Yeezy sneaker line.
Adidas also proposed Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris as its new chairman to replace Thomas Rabe, who has faced shareholder criticism for holding too many other executive roles.
RBC analysts said Adidas' profit outlook could disappoint the market, as it implies an operating profit margin of 8.5%-8.8%, lower than the 10% mid-term target the company had set.
400 MILLION EURO HIT FROM US TARIFFS, WEAKER DOLLAR
Adidas also said U.S. tariffs and the weak dollar would have a 400 million euro impact this year.
The success of its Samba and Gazelle sneakers and growth in its running business have made it easier for Adidas to pass on the extra cost of U.S. tariffs to American consumers by increasing prices.
Sales in North America, Adidas' second-biggest market in terms of sales, grew 10% in currency-adjusted terms last year but were down 1% in euro terms, dragged by a weaker dollar.
Overall, Adidas said it expected currency-adjusted sales to keep growing at a high-single-digit rate in 2027 and 2028. It reported 2025 sales of 24.8 billion euros and operating profit of 2.06 billion.
Adidas has managed to keep discounts under control and sell "the right product in the right amount" across its markets, Gulden said in a statement.
Management proposed a dividend increase of 40% to 2.80 euros per share for 2025. It had announced a share buyback of up to 1 billion euros in January alongside preliminary 2025 results.
($1 = 0.8625 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Huebner in Munich and Linda Pasquini in Gdansk; Additional reporting by Helen Reid in London; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Tomasz Janowski)
