Companies

adidas closes 2024 with strong figures

Jan 24, 2025 Germany

The German-based company has reported strong preliminary figures for the fourth quarter and full year 2024. Shortly afterwards, news of job cuts as part of a restructuring of its headquarters began to appear in the media

“I am very pleased the way the fourth quarter and the full year developed for us at adidas. 19% currency-neutral growth (+24% reported) in a quarter that in general was difficult for the trade underlines the strong momentum we currently see for our brand and our products. We clearly see that consumers’ and retailers’ interest in our products is growing across both Lifestyle and Performance. Strong growth across all regions and divisions proves the good job our teams are doing across regions and functions”, commented adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden.

According to the company’s unaudited preliminary results, fourth quarter revenue increased by 19% on a currency-neutral basis, as compared to the same period of 2023. In euro terms, revenue increased by 24% year-on-year to 5.97 billion euros. The gross margin also widened by 5.2 percentage points year-on-year to 49.8% and operating income reached 57 million euros, as compared to an operating loss of 377 million euros in the fourth quarter of the previous year.

Overall, adidas’ revenue for the full year 2024 grew by 12% on a currency-neutral basis and by 11% in euro terms to reach 23.68 billion euros. The company’s gross margin improved by 3.3 percentage points versus the prior year to 50.8% and the full year operating profit increased by more than 1 billion euros to 1.34 billion euros.

“So, although we are not yet where we want to be long term, I am very happy with this development which was much better than we had expected (…). We also feel good about the future, and we see the potential to increase our market share in all markets. There is a lot of macroeconomic uncertainty right now, but we clearly have the goal to again grow double-digit with the adidas brand and use that growth to continue to improve our operating profit and make further progress towards our 10% margin target”, concluded Bjørn Gulden.

Job cuts

A spokesman for the company told the media that the company had achieved strong momentum for its brand, products and business over the past two years. “However, we have also recognised that our current corporate structures are too complex in a constantly changing world”. The restructuring of the company’s headquarters could put around 500 jobs at risk out of a total workforce of 5800.

Image Credits: adidas-group.com

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