As detailed above, the strong performance of the Adidas Group in the third quarter was lifted by a 20.1 percent jump in the sales of the Adidas and Reebok brands in Western Europe. Their turnover in the region reached €1,404 million, up by 18.0 percent in local currencies. The management attributed this to a reorganization of its European operations, involving a harmonization of the product ranges and a stronger focus on key accounts. Adidas boasted strong double-digit growth in sales to key accounts like Sports Direct, JD, Foot Locker Europe and Zalando.
For the Adidas brand, the more buoyant European sales were driven by Originals and Neo, as the brand is taking full advantage of sneaker trends favoring products such as the Stan Smith and the Superstar. Herbert Hainer, the group's chief executive, said Adidas has sold more than one million pairs of the ZX Flux to Foot Locker Europe so far this year.
Adidas also boasted regional sales gains of 9 percent in running and 19 percent in football. This rise in football was achieved despite a tough comparison with the third quarter of last year, when the German victory at the World Cup generated abundant sales of replica jerseys. The company reorganized its range of football footwear, ditching the Predator and F50 to market the X and Ace lines. On the apparel side, the brand's sales jumped at double-digit rates, inflated by the launch of its partnerships with Manchester United and Juventus Turin.
The Adidas and Reebok brands enjoyed double-digit growth in the U.K., Italy and France for the quarter. Spain could be added for the first nine months of this year. The turnover has been stable in the German market, where the turn of events on Brazilian football pitches had a particularly strong impact last year.
Sales in France, the group's third-largest market in Europe, climbed by 13 percent for the quarter. The company predicts continued double-digit growth in France in 2016, aided by the European football championship to be held in the country in June and July – although the French team is outfitted by Nike. The company is starting to unveil national team jerseys for the tournament this month. Football boots without laces and with Primeknit uppers are to be released in this and other markets next year.
Adidas and Nike have both been expanding at a remarkable clip in Western Europe in the last quarters. Market research indicates that Adidas and Asics may be gaining some market share against Nike in the running market, according to a knowledgeable source, while Nike is gaining more strongly against Adidas in football. Then again, the comparison is somewhat flawed, since the latest Adidas football offering, organized under the X and Ace ranges, has only been in the market since July. The performance of the Puma brand in Europe was weaker during the quarter, although there were some standouts in sell-through, as described in the article on Puma in this issue.
The Adidas brand's sales jumped by 17 percent to €3,230 million in Western Europe for the first nine months this year, up by 15 percent in constant currencies, with double-digit expansion for Originals and Neo and a high single-digit gain in football. The Reebok brand's sales in Western Europe amounted to €249 million and they were up by 10 percent in constant currencies for the nine months.
The reorganization started by the Adidas Group last year probably goes some way to explain the sharp rise in operating profit for Western Europe, which increased by 34.6 percent to €805 million for the three quarters. That amounted to an operating margin of 23.0 percent, 3.1 percentage points above the margin of the year-ago period. This underlines the importance of this market for the group, making up 34.8 percent of the profit yielded by the operations of the Adidas and Reebok brands for the nine months, ahead of Greater China with 28.0 percent and way ahead of North America with just 2.7 percent.
