German sportswear giant Adidas stated Monday it was mulling a sale of its long-struggling United States subsidiary Reebok.
” Adidas has started to assess strategic options for Reebok,” the business said in a declaration, adding these “consist of both a possible sale of Reebok as well as Reebok staying a part of the company”.
A decision will be revealed on March 10, it added, when the group will present a brand-new five-year technique.
Adidas obtained Boston-based Reebok in 2006 for 3.1 billion euros (US$ 3.8 billion) to handle United States competing Nike. The brand has had a hard time to grow under its German owner, regularly fueling speculation of a sale.
The brand name is now worth just 803 million euros, after several accounting write-downs, the last of which happened in August after a 42 percent drop in sales in the second quarter to 228 million euros.
Germany ' s Manager Magazin reported in October that China ' s Anta Sports and North Face owner VF Corp. had an interest in getting Reebok.
As far back as 2017, Adidas president Kasper Rorsted needed to face down investors calling for the sale of then loss-making Reebok.
A turn-around plan started in 2016 reversed declining sales by 2019, prior to the pandemic forced store closures and halted the momentum.
At the peak of the coronavirus restrictions in the 2nd quarter, the Adidas group was required to surround 70 percent of its stores worldwide.
With sales of 1.75 billion euros in 2019, up two percent on the year prior to, Reebok accounted for just a portion of the Adidas group ' s 23.6 billion euros in profits last year.
Adidas at 1430 GMT traded up nearly 1.7 percent at 288 euros on news of a prospective sale, compared to a 1.0 percent increase in Frankfurt ' s blue-chip Dax index as a whole.
