Adidas runs ahead with increased sales goal

Adidas, the world's second largest sporting goods company after Nike, today increased its sales goal for 2011 on the back of rising consumer confidence and emerging markets growth.

"2011 is shaping up to be another great year for the Adidas Group and we are off to a fast start," chief executive Herbert Hainer said today after the group reported record sales of 11.99 billion for 2010.

As part of a strategy to grow faster than the market over the period to 2015, Adidas is concentrating on North American high school consumers, Russia and China.

The German company with the three stripes logo said however that higher raw material costs would offset improved margins from its network of own stores, meaning group gross margins would remain flat in 2011.

High commodities prices are affecting a variety of companies, from consumer goods group such as Henkel to clothing manufacturers and chemicals firms like AB Foods and BASF.