Adidas raised its full-year operating-profit forecast after preliminary third-quarter results showed record revenue and earnings, helped by stronger full-price sales and approximately €200 million in refunded U.S. tariffs.
Third-quarter revenue increased 9% to a record €7.252 billion.
On a currency-neutral basis, sales grew 7%.
Operating profit climbed 37% to €1.008 billion, the highest quarterly operating result in the company’s history, while gross margin improved 2.5 percentage points to 54.3%.
Adidas now expects approximately €2.5 billion of operating profit in 2026, up from its previous forecast of roughly €2.3 billion.
The company said the improvement reflects both stronger underlying profitability and the U.S. tariff refund.
The distinction is important.
Adidas said the approximately €200 million refund contributed to third-quarter margin improvement, but the company also estimates stronger business performance will add about €100 million to operating profit compared with its previous assumptions.
Without additional spending, those factors would put operating profit on course for roughly €2.6 billion.
Instead, Adidas plans to reinvest approximately €100 million during the fourth quarter in initiatives intended to improve future operating leverage, leaving its official full-year forecast around €2.5 billion.
The results provide another indication that the sportswear company continues to rebuild profitability despite difficult conditions in parts of the footwear market.
Adidas shares rose following the surprise preliminary release.
The company will publish its complete third-quarter financial results on October 29.
Investors will then receive more detail on regional sales, inventory and whether current full-price demand can continue as competition and discounting remain significant across the global footwear market.
