Strong Us Performance Helps Lift Adidas

Adidas Tuesday surprised investors with a stronger than expected increase in third-quarter pre-tax profits and revealed that two board members would be selling part of their stakes in the German sportswear group. Adidas, which is taking over Salomon, the French sports goods company, said pre-tax profits rose 64.4 per cent to DM307 million ($176.8 million) in the period, underlining its growing success in the battle against US rivals Nike and Reebok in the world sportswear market. Adidas said Robert Louis-Dreyfus, chairman, and Christian Tourres, a fellow director, would each sell 500,000 Adidas shares. They would continue to hold about 4.9 per cent each of Adidas share capital.