Adidas up 6% after trimming 2023 loss forecast on strong Yeezy sales

German sportswear giant Adidas on Monday said it expects a significantly smaller operating loss for the year after recording better-than-expected early sales of its Yeezy stock, which it is offloading after cutting ties with collection creator Ye.

Shares of Adidas were 6.3% higher at 10:22 a.m. BST Tuesday after the company said its potential write-off from remaining inventory was now €400 million ($442.5 million), down from €500 million, as it trimmed its operating loss forecast for 2023 to €450 million from €700 million.

The company also reported a slight outperformance in the underlying Adidas business and said it still expects underlying operating profit, excluding one-offs related to Yeezy and a wider ongoing strategic review, to roughly break even for the year.

“If successful, potential future Yeezy drops would further improve the company’s results,” Adidas said in a statement, refering to further releases of existing inventory.

Adidas ended its partnership with musician Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in October 2022 after he made a string of offensive and antisemitic comments. After several weeks of criticism online, Adidas called Ye’s comments “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous” and said it would end production of Yeezy branded products, which include footwear and clothing, and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. 

That left the question of what the company would do with its existing Yeezy stock.

In May, Adidas announced it would sell the inventory and donate a “significant amount” of the proceeds to groups including the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise and Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change.

Adidas signed a deal to manufacture and distribute items from the Yeezy clothing line in 2016, with the brand growing to bring in nearly $2 billion a year for the company, 10% of its revenue, according to Morningstar analyst David Swartz.