German sports equipment and clothing maker adidas posted a huge drop in first quarter profit today while announcing a global reorganisation billed as a "game-changing structural refinement".
Adidas said its net profit had fallen by a whopping 97 per cent to just euro five million.
A company statement also said sales had lost a much more modest two per cent to euro 2.58 billion in the first three months of the year, even though 2008 sales had benefitted from the European football (soccer) championships.
"We feel the effects of the economic downturn in many of our key markets," the statement quoted adidas chairman and chief executive Herbert Hainer as saying.
He added that the group's results had been "materially affected by higher input prices, currency devaluation effects and restructuring costs."
Shares in the company plunged in early trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
Adidas announced a major restructuring of its operations that would include the elimination of regional headquarters in Europe and Asia and was expected to generate more than euro 100 million in annual savings.
