Adidas CFO Robin Stalker said that the company "is not facing pressure to trim its portfolio beyond the sale of footwear brand Rockport and several golf labels," despite the recent arrival of three big activist shareholders, according to James Shotter of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Over the course of '15, U.S. investor Mason Hawkins, Belgium’s Albert Frère and Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris "have all built up stakes" in adidas. Hawkins and Sawiris "earlier this month set up a combined entity to co-invest in European companies." Their purchases have "prompted speculation that they could push for the German group to offload low-performing assets" such as Reebok or U.S. golf brand TaylorMade. Stalker said that the investors "had not been pushing for the group to sell assets." He said, "I've never had a conversation where anyone has given me any pressure about anything." Stalker conceded that the company -- which posted operating profits of €1.08B ($1.2B) from sales of €12.7B ($13.9B) in the first nine months of the year -- "had not yet met its ambition of a double digit operating margin." But he added that adidas has had "good discussions" with Hawkins' Southeastern Asset Management and Frère’s GBL. The group plans to decide in the first quarter of next year "whether to part company with TaylorMade as well, which, like other golf brands, has been hit by a decline in the popularity of the sport." Stalker said that adidas would make the decision based on how TaylorMade fits into its overall strategy. He said, "We are more in soft goods and footwear than we are in hard goods. The TaylorMade part of golf is hard goods ... If we were to decide to divest, it has to be for the right price. We don’t need to sell TaylorMade" (FT, 12/28).
