Adidas wrapped up 2024 on a high note with better-than-expected results in the fourth quarter.
According to the German athletic company’s preliminary results for the 2024 fourth quarter, Adidas saw revenues grow 24 percent in the period to 5.97 billion euros, up from 4.81 billion euros the same time last year. Excluding Yeezy sales in both years, currency-neutral revenues increased 18 percent, Adidas noted.
The company’s gross margin increased 5.2 percentage points to 49.8 percent, up from 44.6 percent in the 2023 fourth quarter, while operating profit reached 57 million euros.
As for the full fiscal year, Adidas said revenues increased 11 percent in 2024 to 23.68 billion euros, compared to 21.43 billion euros in fiscal 2023. Full-year operating profit increased by more than 1 billion euros to 1.337 billion euros, up from 268 million euros in 2023.
Shares of Adidas AG were up over 4 percent on Tuesday.
“I am very pleased the way the fourth quarter and the full year developed for us at Adidas,” Bjørn Gulden, chief executive officer of Adidas, said in a statement. “[Achieving] 19 percent currency-neutral growth in a 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 in our products is growing across both lifestyle and performance. Strong growth across all regions and divisions proves the good job our teams are doing.”
Gulden, who was honored as Person of the Year at the 2024 Footwear News Achievement Awards last month, added that while Adidas is “not yet where we want to be long term,” the year ended “much better” than anticipated.
“We still have a lot to improve but I am very proud of what our teams and people have achieved in 2024,” Gulden said. “We also feel good about the future, and we see potential to increase our market share in all markets. There is a lot of macroeconomic uncertainty right now, but we clearly have the goal to again grow double-digit with the Adidas brand and use that growth to continue to improve our operating profit and make further progress towards our 10 percent margin target.”
Adidas is expected to release its final results for 2024 and issue guidance for 2025 on March 5.
