ADIDAS AG BERLIN (Reuters) - Adidas's (>> adidas AG) beleaguered chief executive, Herbert Hainer, has defended his record, saying first-quarter results next week will show the German sportswear company made a great start to 2015.
Hainer, CEO since 2001, faced calls to step down last year after a series of profit warnings and as the company has lost ground to U.S. rival Nike (>> Nike Inc). The board said in February it had launched a formal search for a successor even though Hainer, the longest-serving CEO of a German blue-chip company, is on a contract that runs until 2017.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily released ahead of publication on Sunday, Hainer said he had responded to the criticism "like an athlete who is not fit", by training and coming back stronger.
"We are now back in full swing. Adidas and Reebok have made an excellent start to 2015. You will see that in our first quarter figures this week," he said.
Adidas is expected to report a 14 percent rise in first-quarter net profit when it publishes results on Tuesday. It will hold its annual general meeting on Thursday.
Hainer reiterated that he had no intention of selling the Reebok brand Adidas bought in 2006 or the golf business, despite calls from some investors for divestments.
"Everybody knows that fitness is the trend par excellence and Reebok is the right brand for that. Why should we part from it, especially now that it is running well?" he said, adding that golf would also "definitely" remain part of the group.
Adidas's problems last year were compounded by the group's deep exposure to Russia, where the plunging rouble forced it to scale back new store openings.
Hainer defended a deal this week to extend an outfitting deal with soccer club Bayern Munich until 2030, reportedly for 900 million euros ($1 billion), noting it sells over a million jerseys every season, more than all the other top German sides put together.
He declined to comment on speculation that Kasper Rorsted, Chief Executive of German consumer goods group Henkel (>> Henkel AG & Co KGaA) could be a candidate to replace him, although he agreed that Rorsted had the right profile: consumer goods experience and an interest in sports, including being a Bayern fan.
Investors and company sources have speculated that Hainer could be a candidate to be chairman of the group following a mandatory two-year cooling off period.
Hainer said he would consider it if he was approached to be a future chairman of Adidas, but he did not know what he would be doing in three or four years' time.
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(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Susan Fenton)
