Fall of 5% for adidas, preliminary 2023 figures show
Sports group adidas has said preliminary full-year results for 2023 show revenues of €21.4 billion, a fall of 5% year on year.
It said it had made a decision to supply less product to wholesale customers in 2023 in an attempt to reduce high inventory levels. It said this had been successful, but had also had an effect on the figures.
The group also pointed to its decision to discontinue its Yeezy business as an important factor.
In 2016, adidas announced that it was cementing an existing relationship with rap artist Kanye West (also known as Ye), turning it into “a transformative new partnership” to develop footwear, apparel and accessories under the brand name Yeezy. It said this would be “the most significant partnership ever between an athletic brand and a non-athlete”.
However, in October 2022, adidas announced that it was terminating the relationship. It said antisemitic comments Ye had made in the public domain had been “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous”. It said these comments violated the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.
It has now calculated that the discontinuation of the Yeezy business represented “a drag of around €500 million” on its 2023 revenues. It still achieved revenues of €750 million last year from selling off Yeezy inventory, but it quoted the corresponding figure for the year before as €1.2 billion.
Chief executive, Bjørn Gulden, said: “We know that our financial performance is not good. But we are on the way of making adidas a good company again. We just need the time to build it up again solidly. I feel that the attitude and agility in our teams are back and that we are showing the old adidas DNA again.”
Image shows the adidas flagship store in Shanghai.
