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Adidas to buyback €1.5bn in shares through 2019

04 Oct '14

2 min read

Germany based Adidas Group which reported sales of € 14.5 billion in 2013 said it will return up to €1.5 billion to Adidas AG shareholders over the next three years, primarily in the form of share buybacks.

In addition, Adidas stated its commitment to pay an annual dividend to shareholders in the range of 20% to 40% of net income attributable to shareholders.

The company is intending to buy back shares via the stock exchange under the authorisation granted through its AGM held in May 2014.

The shareholder return programme will predominantly be financed from the Group's free cash flow and will run through till May 7, 2019, subject to advantageous market conditions.

"With the announced return of cash today, we underline our strong confidence in the cash generation and growth potential of our Group," said Robin Stalker, CFO Adidas Group.

He added, "We believe that our shares are currently significantly undervalued and this provides an excellent opportunity to optimise the company's cost of capital, deploy cash and create further value for our shareholders."

“The authorisation given by the AGM covers the repurchase of up to 10% of the company's share capital on the stock exchange currently representing 20,921,618 shares,” Adidas said.

“The purchase price per share may not be more than 10% higher or lower than the average stock market price as established in the opening auction on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on the day of entering into the repurchase obligation,” it added.

Adidas plans to start the share buyback programme in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The Adidas Group employs more than 50,000 people across the globe, offering a broad portfolio of footwear, apparel and hardware around the core brands adidas, Reebok, TaylorMade, Rockport and Reebok-CCM Hockey. (AR)

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