By Andrea Figueras
Adidas on Wednesday posted a decline in net profit and sales for the third quarter while it continued to reduce high inventory levels.
The German athletic apparel and footwear company confirmed its third-quarter preliminary figures and said that net profit fell 25% on year to 259 million euros ($277.1 million).
As reported last month, revenue declined 6.4% to EUR6 billion, although currency-neutral revenue increased 1%, it said.
Operating profit fell to EUR409 million from EUR564 million and the operating margin was 6.8%, down from 8.8% in 2022.
Results for the third quarter were better than expected, but the current performance isn’t good enough, the company said.
Inventory levels decreased more than expected and were down 23% on year, it said. During the first nine months, inventories fell by more than EUR1.1 billion.
Adidas backed its recently updated guidance for 2023, which was raised thanks to Yeezy inventory reductions and a better-than-expected underlying business, it said.
It continues to expect currency-neutral revenues to decline at a low single-digit rate and underlying operating profit–excluding any one-offs related to Yeezy and the underway strategic review–at around EUR100 million.
Adidas also sees an operating loss of around EUR100 million this year.
Write to Andrea Figueras at andrea.figueras@wsj.com
