Adidas (ETR: ADS), the German sportswear group, raised its full-year 2026 operating profit outlook to around €2.5 billion after record preliminary third-quarter results. Its US-traded depositary receipts closed 3.4% higher on Tuesday after the release.
Depositary receipts (ADDYY) are certificates that let US investors hold the German-listed stock. The shares themselves rose 0.1% in German trading on Tuesday.
Third-quarter revenue rose 9% to a record €7,252 million, or 7% excluding currency effects. Operating profit climbed 37% to €1,008 million, the highest quarterly figure the company has recorded, and gross margin widened 2.5 percentage points to 54.3%.
The guidance bridge has two steps. Adidas now expects currency-neutral revenue growth of 9% to 10% for the year, which adds around €100 million of operating profit to its earlier assumptions. Together with the tariff refund, that would have lifted profit to €2.6 billion.
The company then decided to reinvest around €100 million in the fourth quarter in initiatives meant to give it greater operating leverage, meaning profit growing faster than sales, in line with its mid-term profitability targets. That leaves the outlook at around €2.5 billion, against around €2.3 billion before. That is a rise of about €200 million, or roughly 9%.
Part of the quarter will not repeat. Adidas received the majority of its US tariff claims in the period and booked a refund of around €200 million, which fed into the margin gain alongside healthy full-price sales. Unfavourable currency moves weighed on margin.
Chief executive Bjørn Gulden pointed to strong, profitable growth in Football, Running and Training. He was more cautious on footwear lifestyle, which he said is:
currently challenging, mainly due to too much inventory and too much discounting in the marketplace, but we know this will soon normalize again.
Bjørn Gulden, chief executive of Adidas
Gulden said Adidas is not trying to maximise the short term and remains focused on its mid-term targets. The group will publish its final third-quarter results next Thursday, the 29th of October.