In the fourth quarter of 2014, adidas Group revenues grew 6% on a currency-neutral basis. Currency neutral sales in Retail and Wholesale increased 20% and 5%, respectively.
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Sales in Other Businesses decreased 16% on a currency-neutral basis, due to a double-digit decline at TaylorMade-adidas Golf. Currency-neutral revenues in Western Europe increased 13%, due to double-digit growth at adidas and Reebok. In European Emerging Markets, currency-neutral sales were up 16% as a result of double-digit revenue growth at both adidas and Reebok.
Group sales in North America declined 4% on a currency-neutral basis, as mid-single-digit growth at adidas was more than offset by declines at TaylorMade-adidas Golf and Reebok.
In Greater China, Group sales were up 11% on a currency-neutral basis, due to double-digit increases at adidas. Currency-neutral revenues in Other Asian Markets remained stable, as high-singledigit growth at adidas was offset by double-digit declines at TaylorMade-adidas Golf. Revenues at Reebok remained at the prior year level.
In Latin America, adidas Group sales were up 12% on a currency-neutral basis as a result of double-digit growth at adidas and Reebok. Currency translation effects had a slightly positive impact on Group sales in euro terms. Group revenues grew 6% to € 3.610 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 from € 3.391 billion in 2013.
From a brand perspective, fourth quarter sales at adidas increased 11% on a currency-neutral basis, driven by double-digit sales growth in the Sport Performance training and running categories as well as at adidas Originals and adidas NEO.
Sales at Reebok grew 1% on a currency-neutral basis. Double-digit sales increases in the fitness training, walking and studio categories were partly offset by decreases in the fitness running category and in Classics. Revenues at TaylorMade-adidas Golf declined 24% on a currency-neutral basis, as a result of TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s ongoing efforts to clean retail inventories and the timing of new product introductions compared to the prior year period.
Sales at Reebok-CCM Hockey increased 2% on a currency-neutral basis as a result of strong sales growth in sticks. Fourth quarter operating margin excluding goodwill impairment declines 1.4 percentage points The Group’s gross profit increased 1% to € 1.621 billion (2013: € 1.610 billion) in the fourth quarter. Gross margin decreased 2.6 percentage points to 44.9% (2013: 47.5%), mainly due to negative currency effects as well as higher input costs.
In addition, lower product margins at TaylorMade-adidas Golf also contributed to the gross margin decline. Other operating expenses grew 3% to € 1.642 billion, mainly as a result of the Group’s expansion of own-retail activities as well as higher marketing working budget expenditure. However, as a percentage of sales, other operating expenses declined 1.3 percentage points to 45.5% (2013: 46.8%).
In the fourth quarter 3 of 2014, the Group recorded a loss from operating activities of € 40 million (2013: operating profit of € 32 million). This was due to goodwill impairment losses of € 78 million. Excluding goodwill impairment losses, operating profit amounted to € 38 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to € 85 million in the prior year.
Operating margin excluding goodwill impairment losses declined 1.4 percentage points to 1.1%. As a result, net income from continuing operations, excluding goodwill impairment losses, decreased to € 10 million from € 32 million in 2013.
Including losses from discontinued operations of € 71 million related to the planned Rockport divestiture, the Group recorded a net loss attributable to shareholders excluding goodwill impairment losses of € 62 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 versus net income attributable to shareholders of € 42 million in 2013.
Adidas Group currency-neutral sales increase 6% in 2014 In 2014, Group revenues increased 6% on a currency-neutral basis, driven by a double-digit sales increase at brand adidas and mid-single-digit growth at Reebok. Currency translation effects had a negative impact on Group sales in euro terms. Group revenues grew 2% to € 14.534 billion in 2014 from € 14.203 billion in 2013. ■