Adidas is on a roll – and not just in the running category. According to preliminary figures, the sporting goods group increased its turnover by 11% to 23.7 billion euros last year. The brand with the three stripes grew in all regions and in all product segments.

Intersport confirms that Adidas is currently outperforming its biggest competitors Nike and Puma with this dynamic growth. „Adidas has widened the gap,“ states Henriette Tesch, COO at Germany's largest sports retailer. In the ranking of the most important suppliers of the group, which has more than 1,400 shops in Germany, Adidas remained in first place in the last financial year, which ended on 30 September. Its lead over Nike has now increased. Puma, On and Asics follow in the next places.

However the smaller brands are doing well. „It's impossible to imagine life without On,“ says Tesch. Brooks is also in high demand and has climbed up two levels to 13th place in the Intersport ranking. The US company Brooks, which offers running shoes and clothing, belongs to Warren Buffet's investment company Berkshire Hathaway. On is also in at the moment: Former world-class tennis player Roger Federer has a stake in the fast-growing Swiss company, which was founded in 2010. The product range includes running, tennis and hiking shoes, as well as clothing.

The fact that Adidas has turned back into a growth company is due to the strength of the brand. Bjørn Gulden, who moved from Puma to Adidas at the beginning of 2023, has revitalised it. He is focussing his strategy on the core of the business: The products, consumers, retailers and top athletes as brand ambassadors. The Norwegian has increased the visibility of the brand. He started with the burden of several million pairs of „Yeezy“ shoes as a legacy of an ingloriously ended collaboration with Kanye West. The rapper and designer had become unacceptable due to his racist and anti-Semitic slogans.

In addition, Gulden began with the burden of his predecessor Kasper Rorsted, who had neglected and even annoyed specialist retailers at the expense of direct business – online and in his shops. Nike had also gone down this path, which only initially generated higher margins. Elliott Hill, who was brought out of retirement and has been CEO of Nike for four months, has changed course and is approaching the retail partners.

This change in strategy is suits the interests of the Intersport. „This is going in the right direction,“ says Henriette Tesch. When Nike focussed heavily on direct business, the retailers in the network lacked merchandise from the world's largest sporting goods group. As Tesch recalls, "that was a tense situation.“

Adidas boss Gulden succeeded in regaining the trust of the retailers. Already last year he received recognition from Intersport for prioritising the products and seeking personal contact with retailers. Tesch describes the current relationship with all major brands as good. There is a weekly exchange.

Adidas has returned to a growth trajectory. In 2023, sales had fallen by a good 1 billion euros compared to the previous year; last year, they rose by more than 2.2 billion euros. At 23.68 billion euros, revenue is slightly higher than the 23.64 billion euros in 2019, the highest ever figure to date.

Nike, on the other hand, is heading in the opposite direction. In the last financial year, which ended on 31 May, sales almost stagnated at 51.36 (previous year: 51.22) billion dollars. In the first six months of the current period, it fell by 9% to 23.94 billion euros. For the quarter from December to February, the management has announced a low double-digit percentage drop in sales and falling margins.

According to analysts at J.P. Morgan, this offers Adidas the opportunity to snatch even more market share from Nike. The smaller competitor could thus benefit from the weakness of the larger one. The bank's industry observers believe that Adidas is particularly strong in the lifestyle segment. The so-called Terrace retro shoes „Samba“, „Gazelle“ and „Spezial“ continue to be a sales hit. DZ Bank even recognises a „brand hype“.

This is reflected in share prices. The trend has been upwards for Adidas since the end of 2022, and downwards for Nike and Puma since the end of 2021. The preliminary annual figures put Puma under heavy pressure on the stock market. The share price is the lowest it has been in eight years. The company increased its turnover in 2024 by 2.5% to 8.8 billion euros, or 4.4% adjusted for currency effects. However, earnings before interest and taxes stagnated at 622 million euros.

CEO Arne Freundt makes no secret of his dissatisfaction with profitability and has announced a programme for greater efficiency. The investment bank Stifel is critical of the fact that Puma's margin only remained stable in the fourth quarter, despite a double-digit increase in sales. The conclusion of their analysts is: „Puma warns, while Adidas shines.“

But even at the larger of the two local rivals, with their corporate headquarters in Herzogenaurach near Nuremberg, it's not all sunshine. At the Adidas headquarters, 500 of the 5,800 jobs are apparently up for negotiation. According to the company, this is not about a cost-cutting programme, but about adapting the organisational structure. The aim is to move closer to retailers and customers – for example in the sales regions. The high turnover in management is also striking. Since Gulden has been in charge, five board members have left the company. Except for CFO Harm Ohlmeyer, none of them have been with the company since the beginning of 2023. Not everyone is happy with Gulden's management style.

Adidas still has a long way to go on the road to the targeted profitability. The operating margin reached 5.6% last year. The target is 10%. If you take the development of the share price as a benchmark, investors are recognising the progress: Adidas reported its first loss in three decades for 2023 – even if it was small at 14 million euros. The operating margin had fallen to 1.3%. 2024 saw a turnaround.

Although Puma's return on sales exceeded that of Adidas, it fell slightly to 7.1%. Analysts are concerned that management will now have to focus on the efficiency programme, which could affect the brand's growth. Nike's margin is ahead of both competitors, but it fell by 2.2 percentage points to 11.1% in the first six months to the end of November.

Thanks to its brand strength, Adidas is defying the gloomy consumer sentiment. In the medium and long term, however, there are good growth opportunities for the entire sporting goods industry. Intersport has identified five trends. Henriette Tesch names longevity as the first: „People want to extend their life expectancy and age healthily.“ Such a lifestyle includes sufficient exercise.

Outdoor is the second trend. Intersport generates around a quarter of its sales with outdoor equipment, for example, hiking. Thirdly: Sportstyle has long since arrived in everyday life. „Trainers have found their way into business as normal shoes,“ says Tesch. Adidas is at the forefront here with its Terrace models. Training in the gym, outdoors, or at home, and running, complete the list of trends.