Adidas CEO: Q1 results will show firm is 'back in full swing'

Berlin

ADIDAS'S beleaguered chief executive, Herbert Hainer, has defended his record, saying that first-quarter results next week will show the German sportswear company made a great start to 2015.

Mr Hainer, CEO since 2001, faced calls to step down last year after a series of profit warnings and as the company has lost ground to US rival Nike. The board said in February that it had launched a formal search for a successor even though Mr Hainer, the longest-serving CEO of a German blue-chip company, is on a contract that runs until 2017.