Adidas, which is based in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, inherited TaylorMade when it acquired France’s Salomon SA in 1997. In addition, it has hired a so far unnamed investment bank to analyze “future options for the company’s golf business, in particular the Adams and Ashworth brands”. “The set of measures is aimed at enhancing the company’s pricing, promotion and trade patterns, as well as optimizing the supply chain and product costs”.
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Less than two weeks after Australia’s Jason Day won the 2015 RBC Canadian Open using TaylorMade brand golf clubs, Germany’s Adidas AG said that it’s exploring options for its sagging golf business.
Adidas has put its golf division, which includes the world’s biggest golf brand, TaylorMade, up for sale as the popularity of the sport wanes.
Net profit in the April through June period was up 1.4 percent compared to the second quarter last year to 146 million euros ($159 million), the company said, in line with expectations.
The German company faced investor pressure last year after it issued a string of profit warnings and scrapped its 2014 and 2015 financial targets but concerns eased in March when Adidas reported strong first-quarter results and announced a new strategic plan for financial revival.
The company said the golf unit had seen sales fall in most categories, but particularly in metalwoods and irons.
Chief executive Herbert Hainer gave a positive outlook for the group the rest of the year. For the half year, group sales rose 7%.
Adidas has also benefited from the weak euro this year, Pusz said.
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Adidas’s organic sales in Greater China and Western Europe were up 19.3% and 12%, respectively. Although America has 45% of the world’s golf courses, the number has fallen in recent years from 16,000 to 15,300 in what the National Golf Foundation describes as a “gradual, but steady, market correction”. Nike Inc., Adidas’s main competitor, reported a 13% currency- adjusted sales growth in the three months ended May 31. Adidas spokesman Jan Runau identified its adviser as Guggenheim Partners LLC.
