(AOF) – Adidas has announced that Kasper Rorsted will leave his post “during 2023”. The Danish executive had joined the company in 2016 and previously led the Henkel business. Adidas is looking for his successor and wants “a smooth transition at the top”.
“After three difficult years that have been marked by the economic consequences of the pandemic and geopolitical tensions, now is the right time to initiate a CEO transition,” said the management of the three-stripe brand.
In early August, Adidas published its detailed accounts for the second quarter, which showed a net profit down 24.2% to 309 million euros. Over this same period, sales, up 4% at constant exchange rates, amounted to 5.6 billion euros, driven by the increase in Western demand. However, the three-stripe brand saw a drop in sales in China of around 35% at constant exchange rates, due to restrictions linked to Covid-19.
“The macroeconomic environment, particularly in China, remains challenging. The recovery in this market is – due to the continued covid-19 restrictions – slower than expected. And we have to take into account a potential slowdown in consumer spending in all other markets for the remainder of the year,” a statement from the group said.
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The French beauty and hygiene market continues to decline
In recent years, the French have simplified their beauty routines, which has resulted in lower spending. According to Kantar, the weight of personal care and beauty in spending on consumer products has steadily decreased over the past five years, dropping below 10%. Thus in 2021, health and beauty expenditure accounted for 8.5%. For the NielsenIQ panelist, the development of telework penalizes the sector because teleworkers reduce their health and beauty purchases twice as quickly as the average French person. This trend is likely to continue in 2022. To this is added another negative factor: with inflation and the loss of purchasing power, the French will certainly carry out arbitrations in their spending, which could be at the expense of the hygiene-beauty.