Adidas expects sales to fall at least 40% in second quarter

BERLIN (Reuters) – German sportswear firm Adidas expects to take a bigger hit from the coronavirus lockdowns in the second quarter, predicting that sales will fall more than 40% after it reported a decline of 19% in the first quarter.

Adidas said over 70% of its stores were currently closed worldwide, with a 35% rise in e-commerce in the first quarter only partially offsetting lost sales, which fell to 4.753 billion euros in the quarter, below average analyst forecasts.

Its operating profit fell 93% to 65 million euros, also missing analyst forecasts. Adidas said due to the uncertainties around how long its stores would stay closed, it is not able to provide an outlook for the full year.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)