German sporting goods maker Adidas could return to pre-crisis levels of sales next year with the help of the FIFA World Cup and its revived Reebok brand amid a global economic rebound, its CEO Herbert Hainer said in an interview on 23 March.
"We could reach the record sales level of 2008 already again next year. That’s not a problem," Hainer says. "Profit is more difficult, because here we are even more dependent on currencies. Especially the [Russian] rouble hurts us," he added.
A depreciation of the Russian rouble against the US dollar – the company’s functional currency in Russia – hit Adidas’ gross profit by over EUR200 million (USD270 million) last year.
(Source: Business Standard)