Adidas reiterates 2008 net profit goal -report
FRANKFURT, July 20 (Reuters) - Adidas (ADSG.DE) expects at least 15 percent growth in 2008 net profit, the German sport goods maker's Chief Financial Officer, Robin Stalker, was quoted on Sunday as saying, reiterating the group's full-year forecast.
Stalker's remarks, in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS), come amid a gloomy outlook for the consumer goods sector.
Many households are cutting non-essential spending as weaker economic growth has heightened employment uncertainty, as wallets are burdened by higher energy and food prices and access to earlier readily available consumer credits has evaporated.
"We continue to expect that our (net) profit (after minorities) of 551 million euros in 2007 is going to grow by at least 15 percent in 2008," Stalker told the FAS.
Considering the deterioration in consumer goods markets since the 2008 profit growth target was first communicated, being able to reiterate it was "quite something," he said.
Equities analysts keeping tabs on Adidas appear to share Stalker's confidence. The average of forecasts for Adidas's 2008 net profit is 639 million euros ($1.01 billion), a year-on-year increase of 15.9 percent, according to Reuters Estimates.
Stalker also reiterated that Adidas expects to sell soccer products for more than 1.2 billion euros this year. (Reporting by Peter Starck; Editing by Richard Hubbard)
