Reebok still aiming for third spot
16/06/2009
Reebok has reported an operating loss of €96 million for the first quarter of the year, but the company has said it still hopes to become the third-biggest sports brand in the world behind Nike and adidas, which would knock Puma into fourth place.
Reebok chief executive, Uli Becker, told The Financial Times on announcing the results that he was confident his company would “hit the ground running” when the global economy picks up.
He said parent company, adidas, had underestimated the amount of time it would take to restructure Reebok after acquiring the brand for €3 billion in 2006. At that time, he told the newspaper, Reebok was “miles away from being a global brand”, because it paid too much attention to the US and the UK markets, and focused too much on sales and not enough on brand and quality.
In an attempt to redress this, he said the company has deliberately foregone revenue in recent times to get out of lower-priced market segments. According to the Financial Times, a year ago, Reebok sold 30% of its shoes for less than $30. In the first quarter of this year, only 10% of shoe-sales were in this price-bracket.
Mr Becker said the brand would focus on growth from now on and attempt to become “as profitable as adidas”.
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