Adidas Sees Single-Digit European Growth
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German sports goods maker Adidas-Salomon  expects sales in Europe to rise by a single-digit percentage in 2005 despite a recent order decline in its main market, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
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EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen is to launch a new plan to boost growth across the European Union next month.
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(InfoWorld) - Vodafone Group had almost 200 million customers by Dec. 31, but continues to face challenges in the competitive and saturated European market. The operator's European business stagnated, with fourth-quarter revenue growing just 0.9 percent year on year, excluding the effect of acquisitions. Worldwide, its growth excluding acquisitions totalled 6.1 percent. The company accounts for revenue from partly-owned subsidiaries in proportion to its holding. Vodafone said that despite low growth in Europe, some of its new calling plans, such as one that offers users a lower price for calls made within their home area and others that include fixed-line broadband Internet access, are attracting new customers. Price competition, however, is offsetting that growth. Revenue from Vodafone's operations outside Europe, excluding acquisitions, grew 14.4 percent compared to a year earlier. Egypt, Romania, South Africa, and Turkey showed particularly strong growth during the period, Vodafone said. The operator offered no further insight into itsÂ negotiations to buyÂ a controlling interest in Indian operator Hutchison Essar. The board is continuing to investigate the possibility and will only agree to a deal that meets Vodafone's financial criteria, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin said during a conference call to discuss the results. U.S. operator Verizon Wireless, in which Vodafone owns a stake, also did well during the quarter, with Vodafone's share of the business acquiring one million new customers. Vodafone is still pleased with its stake in Verizon Wireless, although the company uses a different wireless technology to that used by Vodafone's holdings elsewhere in the world. "There is no concept of our selling our interest there," Sarin said. While rumors have surfaced regularly over the past few years that Verizon Wireless might be considering a major technology change, that's still doubtful, Sarin said. Even Apple'sÂ much anticipated iPhone, which operates on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), the technology that competes with Verizon's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network, is unlikely to encourage Verizon to make a change, Sarin said. The migration to fourth-generation networks, which operators will begin to make in the next few years, will probably cement Verizon's choice. "That's the time Verizon Wireless will think about what next generation of technology that they can deploy and of course they'll try to deploy a technology that is as backward compatible as they can," he said. Data services are also paying off for Vodafone. Non-voice average revenue per user was up 62 percent for the quarter compared to the year earlier. Vodafone has attracted 50 percent of its total customers to sign up for Passport, a plan that offers reduced rates on roaming. The European Commission is proposing a regulation that would require operators to reduce their roaming rates. Vodafone doesn't expect the commission to make a final decision until this summer, said Sarin.
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NBA Europe Live, the National Basketball Association initiative in concert with Euroleague, tips off in five nations next week, but the prospect of NBA expansion to Europe remains distant.
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(InfoWorld) - One of Europe's largest shoe companies plans to embed wireless chips in shoes sold at hundreds of stores across the continent. Under a deal announced Friday, Checkpoint Systems will provide RenoÂ with RFID (radio frequency identification) tags and store tagging systems. The tagging specialist will deliver wafer-thin RFID chips designed especially for shoes from its Asian production facilities, in addition to systems that allow check-out clerks to quickly and easily deactivate tagged products. By having the tags integrated into it shoes, Reno aims to curb theft for both boxed products and those on display, as well as shoes customers try on in the stores. Reno has been using RFID technology to track product shipments from its factories to its stores for several years but has not yet used the technology to track individual products inside each store. The shoe company, based in Thaleischweiler-Froschen, Germany, operates more than 700 stores in 15 countries. It is a member of the Hamm-Reno-Group (HR Group), which has more than 1,700 outlets across Europe. Last year, Checkpoint Systems landed a deal with GermanÂ retail giant MetroÂ to supply RFID systems. The German retail giant, with more 2,300 supermarkets and wholesale, department and electronics stores, is collaborating with several IT companies, including IBM, Intel, and SAP, and more than 40 additional consumer goods and technology suppliers to develop RFID systems for the retail sector. RFID tagging is expected to be a main theme at this year's Cebit trade show, which begins March 15 in Hanover, Germany.
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CANTON, Massachusetts  - Adidas AG  expects growth overseas, particularly in Asia, to push sales at its Reebok division to $5 billion (3.8 billion euros) over the next three to five years, up from their current $3 billion (2.3 billion euros) level, Herbert Hainer, chairman and chief executive of Adidas, said on Thursday.
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European stock markets rose strongly with London trading at fresh two-year high points, as English football giant Manchester United said it had received a takeover approach.
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The footwear and apparel maker set records for the fourth quarter and full year.
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The sporting goods retailer trims its quarterly loss and maintains its outlook.
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German sports goods maker  Adidas-Salomon launched a sportswear collection with designer  Stella McCartney on Wednesday, expecting to boost sales by at  least 10 million euros ($12 million) next year.
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By Jonathan B. Cox, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.  Sep. 17--Wangfujing Street in central Beijing is a shortcut to the other side of the world.   Above the Mercedes-Benzes and Audis whizzing nearby, a billboard promotes Adidas.
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German sports goods firm  Adidas-Salomon on Thursday said its 2004 net income rose by 21  percent to 314 million euros ($408.6 million), almost meeting  analysts' expectations.
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Nike Inc. (NKE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) co-founder Philip Knight, who helped transform a small start-up into the world&#39;s biggest athletic shoe company, will step
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Esprit Holdings Ltd. (0330.HK), the  world's fifth-largest fashion retailer, is set to post a 10  percent rise in second-half earnings on Wednesday as strong  European sales offset a poor product mix and a weak euro.
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The European aerospace giant EADS hopes to achieve a double-digit operating margin by around 2015, a company spokesman said Thursday.
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A likely soft landing for the U.S. economy will not dent the recovery that is gathering pace in Europe, the OECD said Tuesday, raising its growth forecast for the 12 nations that use the euro while cutting predictions for the United States to reflect a housing-led slowdown.
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Reebok's US sales will probably drop again in 2007, but worldwide the brand is expected to grow to a $5 billion business within three to five years, Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer said yesterday.