Adidas cuts targets due to Russia, golf company

(Reuters) - The world's second-biggest sportswear firm, which has been losing ground to competing Nike (NKE.N), said on Thursday it'd no more have the ability to meet objectives it set for 2015 and would give further details on Aug. 7, when it reports complete quarterly results. Adidas said second quarter sales rose 2 percent to 3.47 billion euros ($4.6 billion), an increase of 10 percent on a currency-neutral basis, while attributable net income was 144 million, slightly above analysts' average forecasts. The firm said higher marketing spending money effects, including a big fall in golf sales had cancel otherwise strong underlying quarterly increase in the majority of important groups and marketplaces for the Adidas and Reebok brands. It said it now expected a mid-to-high single-digit sales increase before money effects, down from an earlier target for a high single-digit rise. Ingo Speich, a fund manager at Union Investment that is the tenth-biggest investor in Adidas with a 1.2 percent stake said: "The profit warning could almost have been called but the extent of it's catastrophic... unfavourable conditions are no alibi. Nike is stealing Adidas' thunder in important markets" CUTS TO RUSSIA COMPANY GOLF, Adidas cut its expectations for its TaylorMade golf company as the department suffered from sluggish sales of old stock and poor retail opinion after sales fell 18 percent. It said it'd take more steps to cut inventory and launch a restructuring programme to align prices with lower expectations for the golf business, which is losing popularity in its top marketplace nike air max 2012. the Usa. Adidas additionally said it was cutting investment in Russia, where it already runs raising dangers to spending and consumer sentiment and more than 1,000 shops, because of a fall in the rouble since the beginning of the Ukraine disaster. "Current tensions in the region stage to higher dangers to the short term profitability contribution from Russia/CIS," it said. Adidas said it raise how many store closings and would significantly reduce its shop opening plan for 2015 and 2014. Russia accounted for nearly 7 percent of group sales a year ago. Adidas had said as recently as last month that it had not found any impact of the weaker rouble there - beyond the translation effect on its business. Adidas also announced plans to step up spending on advertising in North America and western Europe, especially in the next 18 months, building on the air max 2014 orange.trong performance of its teams and players at the World Cup earlier this summer. It's also introducing new organizational structures for the global brands and sales divisions under recently made Eric Liedtke and Roland Auschel to take effect on Aug. 1. "Everything we declared today has one aim: to fortify our brands, to drive consumer desire, and to set our group up for long-term succes nike air max black.," Chief Executive Herbert Hainer said in a statement. "We will return the group to a higher and more consistent amount of earnings increase in the mid to long term."