Dive Brief:
- Signaling a strong recovery from the lows of its last fiscal year, Adidas capped off 2024 with 24% sales growth in Q4, the company said in preliminary results released Tuesday. The retailer will release final results and guidance for 2025 on March 5.
- For the full year, revenue grew 11% to 23.7 million euros (about $24.7 million at press time), according to a company press release. Excluding Yeezy sales in both 2023 and 2024, currency-adjusted revenue was up by 13%.
- Profits also increased compared to last year, with operating income up by more than 1 billion euros for the full year and more than 400 million euros for the fourth quarter.
Dive Insight:
Although Adidas’ 2024 results give renewed confidence in a turnaround, the retailer’s annual sales remain about flat to two years ago. That also marks the period when the athletics brand first cut ties with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
Ever since then, the retailer has been working through excess inventory from the partnership, though Adidas recently reached a settlement with the celebrity and appears to be finally reaching the end of the yearslong saga. The retailer in recent quarters has seen sales growth and touted success within its core business. It has also expressed ambitions to pursue further growth in North America, where rival Nike sees significantly more success.
In a statement on the retailer’s preliminary results, Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said the revenue growth is proof of its strong momentum in a quarter that was difficult for retailers in general. The executive noted that the results were better than Adidas anticipated, though the retailer is “not yet where we want to be long term.”
“We clearly see that consumers’ and retailers’ interest in our products is growing across both lifestyle and performance,” Gulden said. “We also feel good about the future, and we see 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.”
It’s been a solid year financially for Adidas, which raised guidance in both Q2 and Q3 and notched sales growth in both of those quarters as well. However, the latest quarter saw the strongest revenue increase this year.
