adidas Group Q4 Earnings Call

Herbert Hainer, the CEO of adidas Group, the parent company of adidas, TaylorMade Golf and Reebok has just discussed the company’s Q4 earnings results.

The Groups Q4 highlights were as follows:

Q4 2011 highlights

• Currency-neutral Group sales up 11%
• Brand adidas sales increase 14% currency-neutral
• North America grows 19% currency-neutral
• Comparable Retail store sales up 11% currency-neutral

Turning to Reebok, sale increased 6% currency neutral in 2011. Yet the most telling result is the fact the company has grown sales by over 20% and increased the gross margin by over 4 percentage points since 2009.

When discussing CrossFit’s role within the overall structure of the Group, Hainer stated, “It starts with the introduction of a new global brand campaign, the sport of fitness has arrived. Our partnership with CrossFit is an integral part of this. CrossFit is one of the fastest growing fitness movement in the world and it involves a community, passionate about living a healthy lifestyle and the camaraderie that can be found in fitness. With the support of the CrossFit community, we are aiming to change the way people perceive, define and experience fitness empowering consumers to be fit for life, in a fun way. And this resonates in a very real endocentric way, with the well use of Reebok. The campaign will also be used to reinforce the performance credentials of Zig tech and RealFlex to sustain their commercial success.”

What I found most interesting was Hainer’s last sentence, where he noted the CrossFit campaign will be used to “reinforce the performance credentials of Zig tech and RealFlex to sustain their commercial success.” This may explains why a recent ZigTech Fitness Ad featuring Annie Thorisdottir and Rich Froning, released in February, showed the duo in a pair of ZigTech’s and not the specifically designed CrossFit shoe, the Reebok CrossFit Nano (you can see that video below).

It looks like it has been a good year for the apparel and equipment company. You can read the full transcript of the earnings call here.