Adidas shares soar to record highs after posting impressive quarterly figures

Adidas (ETR:ADS) reported unexpectedly strong quarterly results on Thursday, sending shares soaring to record highs on the Frankfurt market.

Overall sales rose by 31 percent in the first quarter, with net profits jumping 30 per cent to €455 million. Reuters analysts had expected around €421 million in net profit.

The brand’s figures also beat those of key rival Nike, with sales in Greater China jumping by 31 percent compared with Nike’s 15 percent. Stripping out currency changes, Nike’s overall sales jumped by 3 percent in the quarter, a far cry from Adidas’s figure of 31 percent.

Adidas shares soared on the news, rising more than 2 percent falling again. Chief executive Kaspar Rorsted commented: “We had a strong start into the year, with continued sales and earnings momentum.”

The group also said that it continued to expect sales in 2017 to increase at a rate of between 12 percent and 13 percent, helped by double digit growth in Western Europe, the US and Greater China.

Herbert Sturm, an analyst at DZ Bank, told the Financial Times: “The major reason for this positive surprise: operating expenses as a percentage of sales decreased to 39.1 per cent [from 40.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2016] due to significantly lower marketing expenditure.”

Adidas shares are currently trading up 1.56 percent at 184.90 (1504GMT).