Adidas steps ahead with profits on the rise

Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid are sporting Adidas Superstar and Stan Smith trainers, the German sports brand is back in vogue, and on Thursday its third-quarter profits had an extra spring in their step.

The firm’s sales — which include the Adidas brand, Reebok and golfing company TaylorMade — rose 17% and operating profit raced ahead by 11% to €563 million (£506 million).

Sales in the crucial North America market grew 20%, but that was down from 26% in the previous quarter — a trend seen by rival Nike.

But Reebok is out of fashion and new chief executive Kasper Rorsted said Adidas will swallow one-off costs of €30 million to try to revamp the brand.

Fitbit, the sports technology firm, plunged 30% on Wall Street after its growth and profits slowed in the third quarter.

It posted a $45.7 million (£37 million) post-tax quarterly profit, down from $59.2 million a year earlier.