Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Adidas AG Chief Executive Officer Herbert Hainer said the declining value of the ruble will cut into the sporting-goods maker’s profit in Russia this year.

Currency fluctuations are the biggest risk for Adidas’s business in 2009, Hainer told Bloomberg Television yesterday in an interview in Wiesbaden, Germany, citing Russia and Ukraine.

“Due to the ruble devaluation, we lose a large part of our profit” in Russia, Hainer said. “We can’t do anything about it.” Since Aug. 1, the Russian currency has fallen about 35 percent against the dollar and 22 percent against the euro.

Adidas, the world’s second largest maker of athletic shoes, said in May that Russia will become its main European market by 2010. Sales are still rising in the country and in emerging markets such as China and India, Hainer said, adding that conditions in the U.S. and the U.K. are “very difficult.”

“2009 will be a difficult year, though we will be less affected than some other industries such as carmakers,” Hainer said. The company has no plans to fire workers and expects to “at least” maintain staffing levels by the end of the year.

Adidas rose 11 cents, or 0.4 percent, to 29.19 euros in Frankfurt trading. The stock has gained 7.6 percent this year.

Adidas aims to surpass $1 billion in sales in Russia in 2009, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported in May, citing Hainer. The sporting-goods maker had total revenue last year of 10.3 billion euros ($13.4 billion). The Herzogenaurach, Bavaria- based company doesn’t report sales by individual countries.

“Operating profit margins in Russia are above the average of all markets and Russia is in terms of sales one of Adidas’s most important markets,” said Alexander Schlipf, an analyst at Bankhaus Metzler in Frankfurt.

Adidas, which became the sponsor of Ukraine’s national soccer team this year, still expects rising sales for its Reebok brand this year, according to the CEO.

To contact the reporters on this story: Richard Weiss in Frankfurt at rweiss5@bloomberg.net; Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf at helfes@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 9, 2009 12:48 EST