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Aiming for a China boost

December 23, 2013

Europe's biggest sportswear company, Adidas, has said its expansion plans will focus particularly on China, moving beyond its presence in large cities. The firm said it was on track for record annual turnover.

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Adidas logo on jerseys
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

The number one among Europe's sportswear firms, Adidas of Germany, said it was eying brisker business in 2014 not least because of the soccer world cup in Brazil.

"We intend to improve our business significantly next year," CEO Herbert Hainer said on Monday in a statement. He added the company was well on track to achieve its turnover target of 17 billion euros ($23.3 billion) by 2015, while facing an uphill battle to meet a profit margin of 11 percent in the same period.

Adidas said this year's business had been impacted by the eurozone debt crisis, high procurement costs and a strong euro affecting exports.

China expansion drive

"Nevertheless, the current fiscal year will be the best in the firm's history," Hainer insisted. "We'll set up a new earnings record."

Digitale Anprobe - Hightech im Sportgeschäft # 11.04.2012 14 Uhr # adidas14c # Journal Englisch

The sportswear giant also announced it would aim to expand beyond major Chinese cities into smaller urban areas.

"We're currently active in 1,000 cities in China, and by the end of 2015 we will be in 1,400," regional chief Colin Currie told the German business daily "Handelsblatt", adding that two thirds of the firm's growth in China already came from smaller cities, most of which had fewer than one million inhabitants.

hg/jr (dpa, AFP)