Adidas CEO Hopeful That Cooped-Up Consumers Will Buy Sportswear
- Store closures to lead to first quarterly loss in four years
- Rorsted pledges to pay off state loan as quickly as possible
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Adidas AG Chief Executive Officer Kasper Rorsted tried to present a silver lining as he predicted the German shoemaker’s first quarterly loss in four years: that cooped-up consumers might need more sportswear once countries lift stay-at-home orders.
More than two-thirds of Adidas’s stores are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led the company to forecast an unprofitable quarter in the three months through June. Sales will probably drop about 40%, adjusted for currency swings. The stock, which has lost almost a third of its value this year, rose as much as 5.4% Monday on optimism there’s still life in sporting goods.