.On a currency-neutral basis, wholesale revenues were up 10% in the third quarter, while retail sales surged up 21% .
.The latter helped to offset increases in input costs, but was not
sufficient to stop a slight decrease in gross margins, down three
percentage points to 47.1%, despite a more favorable sales mix .
.Double-digit growth at Adidas and TaylorMade-Adidas Golf helped
Europe to record a 10% revenue increase, while growth for Reebok and
Adidas led to a 22% revenue hike for European emerging markets .
.North America and China both recorded 13% revenue increases, the
latter boosted by double-digit sales gains at Adidas Sport Style.
Meanwhile, other Asian markets were up 7% and Latin America’s sales
surged up 18% .
.“Our record third quarter results were driven by growth in all key
geographies, brands and channels,” said Herbert Hainer, Adidas group
CEO .
.“We will finish 2011 clearly exceeding our initial expectations after
already surpassing our 2008 record earnings mark after the first nine
months.” .
.Separately, the company said it is buying outdoor “a href=”http://www.just-style.com/news/adidas-pays-us25m-to-acquire-five-ten_id112645.aspx”>action sports business Five Ten for $25 million”/a>, as part of plans to expand its outdoor segment .
Date:11/13/2011
Source:Al Ahram Online Newspaper