[LONDON] German sportswear maker Adidas held back on Tuesday (Apr 29) from raising its 2025 financial forecasts despite strong first-quarter results, saying the uncertainty around US import tariffs was making it difficult to make predictions and plan.
CEO Bjorn Gulden said that “in a normal world” the company would have hiked its revenue and profit guidance after last week’s quarterly results, but tariff uncertainty prevented it from doing so.
Adidas expects the blanket increase in US tariffs to eventually cause price increases across all its products, but said it was currently impossible to quantify those or to establish the likely impact on US consumer demand, highlighting the paralysis caused by trade uncertainty.
Adidas has already reduced exports of China-made goods to the US to a minimum but is still “somewhat exposed” to much higher US tariffs on Chinese goods, Gulden said, though it is unclear how long those might remain at the current level.
“Given the uncertainty around the negotiations between the US and the different exporting countries, we do not know what the final tariffs will be. Therefore, we cannot make any ‘final’ decisions on what to do,” Gulden said.
Unexpectedly high US tariffs on South-east Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, announced at the start of this month, but paused until July, blindsided sportswear brands, which make most of their sneakers and clothing there.
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As tariffs raise the cost of doing business, Adidas said it would strive to ensure US retail partners and consumers get product “at the best possible price”, adding it would try to compensate for uncertainty in the US by boosting its performance in the rest of the world.
First-quarter sales rose 14 per cent in Europe and 13 per cent in Greater China, and were up 26 per cent in Latin America. Sales in North America increased just 3 per cent, which Adidas said was due to the phase-out of its Yeezy sneaker line.
While sticking to its full-year guidance, Adidas said the range of possible outcomes was wider now and uncertainty could put negative pressure on its results later in the year.
Adidas expects currency-neutral sales for 2025 to increase at a “high-single-digit” rate (between 5 per cent and 9 per cent) and operating profit to rise to between 1.7 billion euros (S$2.5 billion) and 1.8 billion euros.
Sales of running shoes and clothes improved in the first quarter, Adidas said, as it tries to better compete against newer brands like On and Hoka that have gained in popularity at the expense of Nike, Adidas, and Puma.
Adidas shares were flat in early trade. REUTERS
