Adidas Tees off Sale of TaylorMade

Sporting goods maker Adidas (ADDYY) has finally pushed the button on the sale of its TaylorMade business, which sells golf equipment and accessories and counts Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia among its star players. It also plans to shed the Adams and Ashworth golfing brands brands.

The German company said it will start talking with potential buyers of the business but a final decision to sell it hinges on clearance from its supervisory board.

CEO Herbert Hainer said Adidas wants to "focus even more on our core strength in the athletic footwear and apparel market," though it will keep certain Adidas-branded golf operations.

It made the announcement as it fleshed out first-quarter earnings figures it had previewed last week, when it lifted its full-year sales and earnings guidance for the second time this year. Among the new figures, it noted that Adidas sales had risen 26% when stripping out the impact of currency shifts, while Reebok was up 6%. Sales at the combined TaylorMade-Adidas Golf fell 1%, as Adams and Ashworth revenue declined.

Adidas reported that first-quarter revenue in euro terms rose 17% to a quarterly record of €4.8 billion ($5.5 billion) with the currency-neutral gain rising to 22%. Underlying net profit rose 38% to €350 million.

Buoyed by the benefits of the upcoming Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the Euro 2016 soccer tournament in France Adidas expects group sales to rise about 15% for the full year, compared with a previous forecast for growth of between 10% and 12%. Net profit before write-downs is now tipped to rise by between 15% and 18%, up from an earlier range of 10% to 12%.

Adidas shares by mid-morning in Frankfurt traded marginally up on their Tuesday close, having pared initial gains.