The German sporting goods supplier Adidas AG started its share buyback program announced at the end of last year. The first tranche began on Monday, the group said in a statement. It is planned to “buy back own shares worth up to one billion euros in the first quarter of 2022,” explained the company.
After Adidas had already acquired its own shares worth around one billion euros in 2021, the current program now plans to buy back additional shares with a total value of up to four billion euros by 2025. The group intends to “return up to 5 billion euros to its shareholders through regular share buybacks during the five-year strategy cycle of the new corporate strategy ‘Own the Game'”, according to a press release. The “predominant part” of the repurchased share certificates are to be withdrawn. “This would reduce the number of shares and the share capital accordingly,” explained Adidas.
However, the shareholders should not only benefit from the program that has now been launched: “The buyback activities will be supplemented by the annual dividend distribution of between 30 and 50 percent of the profit from continuing operations,” explained Adidas. In addition, the company plans to “return the majority of the cash proceeds from the sale of Reebok to its shareholders after the closing of the transaction, which is slated for the first quarter of 2022”. Last summer, the group reached an agreement with the US fashion and media group Authentic Brands Group LLC (ABG) to sell the brand. ABG will pay $ 2.1 billion for Reebok.
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