Jan 29 (Reuters) - Adidas on Thursday said it would launch a share buyback of up to 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) on the back of record 2025 sales that the German sportswear maker said benefited from stable prices in the face of U.S. tariffs. Adidas in October had warned of widespread discounting among retailers and consumers in response to concerns over whether tariffs would scare off consumers, at the time warning it would hurt its full-price sales. CEO Bjorn Gulden, who led troubled peer Puma before joining Adidas in 2023, said the company had been successful in keeping the level of "full-price sell-throughs high and discounts under control". Sales rose 4.8% to a record 24.8 billion euros in 2025, with fourth-quarter revenues rising by 1.9% to 6.076 billion, with Adidas pointing to currency headwinds of around 1 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had, on average, expected sales of 24.95 billion for the full year and 6.189 billion in the fourth-quarter. Operating profit rose by 54% to 2.06 billion, according to preliminary figures, the company said, pointing to double-digit growth in all markets. Adidas shares are down 15% so far this year, with analysts pointing to a tough retail market, competition for investor attention from newer names like On and Asics, as well as a turnaround at U.S. rival Nike. Frankfurt-listed shares in the company were still 2.4% higher at 1929 GMT, after the group also unveiled it would buy back up to 1 billion euros worth of stock in 2026, adding the programme would start in February. Adidas, which will release full results along with its annual outlook in early March, said it would fund the buyback through what it said would be "strong cash flow generation in 2026", adding it intended to cancel the repurchased stock. ($1 = 0.8367 euros) (Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru and Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt; Editing by Pooja Desai, Toby Chopra and Diane Craft) (The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
