Adidas reports 'better than expected' annual results thanks to footwear growth

Adidas has updated its outlook for 2025 after achieving an operating profit increase of more than €1 billion (£834 million) to €1.3 billion (£1 billion) in 2024.

As a result, the sportswear giant expects operating profit to increase between €1.7-1.8 billion (£1.4-1.5 billion).

For the fourth quarter, currency-neutral revenues increased 19% and the Adidas brand grew 18%, reflecting "strong" growth across all markets, channels and product divisions.

The sale of the remaining Yeezy inventory generated revenues of around €50 million (£41 million) in the quarter.

Bjørn Gulden, CEO of Adidas, said: "I am very pleased the way the fourth quarter and the full year developed for us at Adidas. We grew double digits in 2024 and improved our operating profit by more than €1 billion. This development was much better than we had expected, and we are of course very pleased with this.

"Although we are not yet where we want to be long term, 2024 was a very successful year that confirmed the strength of the Adidas brand, the potential of our company and what a fantastic job our teams are doing. We still have a lot to improve but I am very proud of what our people achieved during the year.

"Going from single-digit growth at the beginning of the year to 19% currency-neutral growth in a fourth 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 is growing across both lifestyle and performance and also across all markets."

For 2024, Adidas highlights footwear-led growth, reflecting "strong" brand and product momentum – driven by double-digit growth in Adidas Originals and its football and training categories. Increases in running and performance basketball also contributed to the broad-based growth in the category.

In addition, apparel revenues grew 6% in 2024. While the development in the first half was still impacted by a relatively conservative sell-in approach, particularly in North America, the company began to introduce differentiated apparel ranges during the course of the year. Apparel revenues in Originals "benefited from the increasing popularity of the Three Stripes through offerings such as Adicolor and Firebird".

In lifestyle, revenues increased at a double-digit rate as a result of double-digit growth in Originals. Next to additional newness and depth for its iconic ‘Samba’, ‘Gazelle’, ‘Handball Spezial’ and ‘Campus’ products, the company introduced and started to scale volumes in retro running with the ‘SL72’ and the "low profile domain" with the ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Japan’ styles.

To leverage its successful Originals range with a larger group of consumers, Adidas also began to scale commercial footwear propositions in sportswear and introduce innovative concepts in apparel, both leading to a significant top-line acceleration in sportswear during the second half of the year. Demand for the overall lifestyle offering continued to be fuelled by collaborations with partners such as Bad Bunny, Wales Bonner and Edison Chen.

On the performance side, several categories contributed to high single-digit currency-neutral growth. That was led by double-digit growth in football, where Adidas launched new iterations of its ‘Predator’ boots and reintroduced its ‘F50’ franchise, activated by brand partners including Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham, and David Beckham.

Strong growth in the football kit business was driven by jersey sales related to the UEFA Euro 2024 and the CONMEBOL Copa América, with Adidas wearing teams, Spain and Argentina, both winning their respective tournaments.