adidas reports a record third quarter and confirms its higher 2026 profit outlook

adidas has published its full results for the third quarter of 2026, confirming the record figures and the higher full-year outlook it first announced on 20 October. According to the company's release of 29 October, revenue rose 9% to €7,252 million, or 7% on a currency-neutral basis, and operating profit grew 37% to €1,008 million, a margin of 13.9%.

Net income from continuing operations rose 48% to €711 million. The quarter includes a one-off US tariff refund of about €200 million. Reuters reported after the preliminary release that operating profit had beaten the company-compiled consensus of €742 million, and that shares rose almost 3% on the news.

Margins and channels

The gross margin rose 2.5 percentage points to 54.3%, which adidas attributes partly to the tariff refund. Direct-to-consumer revenue grew 17%, with e-commerce up 18% and the company's own retail stores up 16%. Wholesale revenue rose just 2%.

By product, apparel grew 19% while footwear was flat. adidas says the footwear lifestyle market is currently difficult because of too much inventory and discounting.

"The footwear lifestyle business is currently challenging, mainly due to too much inventory and too much discounting in the marketplace, but we know this will soon normalise again," CEO Bjørn Gulden said, as quoted by Reuters.

Regions: Europe down, China up

Europe was the only region to shrink, with revenue down 4%. adidas says the migration to a new SAP ERP system shifted shipments from the third into the fourth quarter. Greater China grew 13%, North America 12%, Latin America 16%, Japan and South Korea 19% and Emerging Markets 15%.

Nine months and balance sheet

For the first nine months, revenue reached €20,587 million and operating profit €2,287 million. Inventories stood at €5,739 million at the end of September. The company completed a €1 billion share buyback and cancelled 6.0 million shares, and its leverage ratio stood at 1.3 times.

Earnings per share from continuing operations reached €4.06 in the quarter. adidas published the full set of quarterly figures with its interim statement on 29 October.

Outlook for 2026

adidas now expects currency-neutral revenue growth of 9% to 10% for 2026 and an operating profit of around €2.5 billion, up from about €2.3 billion. The new target includes the tariff refund and a planned reinvestment of around €100 million in the fourth quarter. The company first published the upgrade with preliminary figures on 20 October.

Analysts at Metzler told Reuters that the higher forecast mostly reflects the one-off refund, but that adidas also benefited from improved full-price sell-through during the quarter.

The competitive context

Reuters notes that adidas has been investing in new styles as demand for its Samba and Gazelle sneakers gradually fades, and that it had hoped to build on a strong showing at this summer's football World Cup. Its July outlook for the period after the tournament had disappointed the market.

What it means for European founders and investors

adidas shows how a European consumer brand can grow through its own channels. Direct sales grew more than eight times as fast as wholesale, and online sales led the way. That keeps demand high for the tools behind direct commerce: personalisation, inventory planning, returns, payments and retail analytics, many of which are built by European startups.

The Europe dip is also a reminder that large ERP migrations can move a whole quarter of revenue. Founders selling software to big enterprises should expect long rollouts and plan for them in their own forecasts.

For more on Europe's consumer and fashion groups, read our report on Frasers taking control of Hugo Boss, and see recent results from Logitech and Delivery Hero in the Europe section.

Spotted an error? Email contact@europreneursmedia.com and we'll correct it. See our corrections policy and editorial standards.