Hainer Remains Ceo As Adidas Posts Strong Q4

Herbert Hainer will remain adidas AG chief executive until at least March 2017, as the company’s supervisory board extended his contract for a further two years beyond 2015, after taking on the role back in 2001.

Igor Landau, chairman of the Supervisory Board of adidas AG, said of the news: ‘Under Herbert Hainer’s leadership, the adidas Group has developed exceptionally well in the past 13 years. Since his appointment as CEO in March 2001, the value of the company has increased more than fivefold. I am delighted that Herbert Hainer has extended his contract as CEO of the adidas Group.’ 

‘In light of his extremely successful performance we would have liked to tie him to the company for an even longer period. We are convinced that Herbert Hainer will continue to drive the company’s success on its growth path.’

adidas also signaled in its official statement that they were already preparing for Hainer’s successor.

Landau added: ‘Today’s decision gives us sufficient time to ensure a smooth transition at the helm of the adidas Group and to optimally facilitate the process of succession for the company. In the coming years, together with Herbert Hainer, we will continue to pursue the generation change which has already been initiated within the Group’s management team, thus preparing the company for the next era of success.’

Meanwhile, adidas also announced its fourth quarter results, with the sports brand reportedly meeting all of its targets in 2013. 

Hainer said of the figures: ‘From an operational perspective, there is no doubt that 2014 will be a successful year for us.’ 

However, he cautioned: ‘Currency headwinds had a significant negative impact on our results in euro terms, and this is also expected to continue in 2014. From an operational perspective, there is no doubt that 2014 will be a successful year for us. Driven by our dominant role at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, we will generate high-single-digit currency-neutral growth in line with our strategic business plan Route 2015.’

‘We finished 2013 with an exceptionally strong fourth quarter. Currency-neutral sales grew 12%, which was above our expectations.’

‘This ensured that we met our revised full year targets from September, despite a further worsening of currency exchange rates.’

adidas said its bottom-line profit for the whole year jumped by 49% to 787 million euros ($1.08 billion), while sales slipped by 2.6% to 14.492 billion euros, apparently largely due to currency effects such as the strong euro.