The new chief executive of Adidas said the sportswear maker’s struggling Chinese business has turned a corner and that it was starting to bring its high level of inventory under control. The statement sent shares in the group to their highest level this year.
Bjørn Gulden, who Adidas poached from Puma in January, said on Friday that the company was noting “a positive trend” in China for the first time in two years. He added that sales to consumers at its retail partners in the country rose at double-digit rates in the first quarter.
The improvement provides some rare cheer for investors in the German group, which in February warned it might report its first annual loss in more than three decades after ditching its highly profitable Yeezy trainers brand, closing its Russian operations and suffering a backlash in China.