Adidas Hopes Olympics Double Asian Sales

Adidas-Salomon, the world's number-two maker of sportswear and equipment, said Wednesday it hoped to double its sales in Asia by 2008 mainly through growing Chinese demand and the prospect of the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. Adidas-Salomon chief executive Herbert Hainer told an investors' day conference that the group aimed to lift sales in Asia to more than two billion euros ($2.4 billion) in 2008, twice the figure for 2004. Under a deal signed back in January, Adidas was named official sportswear partner for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, agreeing to supply sportswear for all staff, volunteers and technical officials at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The German firm also agreed to outfit the Chinese Olympic teams for the Turin 2006 Olympic Winter Games and for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Adidas-Salomon has been active in China for over 20 years and booked sales of over 100 million euros there in 2004. It currently has around 1,300 franchise stories in 250 cities in China and expects to lift Chinese sales to more than one billion euros by 2010.