adidas AG: adidas AG to initiate a multi-year share buyback program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 13, 2018

AD-HOC: adidas AG to initiate a multi-year share buyback program

Herzogenaurach - With the approval of the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board of adidas AG has decided to launch a multi-year share buyback program of up to EUR 3.0 billion in total until May 11, 2021. Starting on March 22, adidas AG plans to buy back shares worth up to EUR 1.0 billion in 2018. The new buyback program is in addition to the company's stated policy to pay an annual dividend to shareholders in the range of 30% to 50% of net income from continuing operations.

The program will be executed by buying back shares via the stock exchange under the authorization granted by the Annual General Meeting on May 12, 2016. The vast majority of the share buyback program will be financed through the company's net cash position as well as the expected strong operating cash flow generation in the years ahead. At the same time, adidas AG intends to make use of available attractive conditions for debt financing on the capital markets in order to finance the share buyback program.

The authorization given by the Annual General Meeting on May 12, 2016 covers the repurchase of up to 10% of the company's share capital on the stock exchange through to May 11, 2021. As the company already made use of this authorization for the third tranche of its previous shareholder return program, adidas AG has the right to repurchase a remaining 8.98% of the company's share capital. This currently represents 18,793,418 shares.

While the company may use the repurchased shares for all purposes in accordance with the authorization granted on May 12, 2016 except for allocating shares to Executive Board members as a compensation component, adidas intends to cancel the vast majority of the repurchased shares.

In all other aspects, the share repurchases are envisaged to be conducted in accordance with the Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 of April 16, 2014 and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 of March 8, 2016. Further details will be published prior to the start of the share buyback program later in March 2018. The company reserves the right to discontinue the share buyback program at any time.

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Contacts:
Media Relations	Investor Relations
Jan Runau Chief Corporate Communication Officer Tel.: +49 (0) 9132 84-3830	Sebastian Steffen Vice President Investor Relations Tel.: +49 (0) 9132 84-4401
Katja Schreiber	Christian Stoehr Senior Director Investor Relations Tel.: +49 (0) 9132 84-4989
Vice President Corporate Communication Tel.: +49 (0) 9132 84-3810
Claudia Lange Director Media Relations Tel.: +49 (0) 9132 84-2338	Jennifer Gaussmann Senior Manager Investor Relations Tel.: +49 (0) 9132 84-74734

Adrian Rott
Senior Manager Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 (0) 9132 84-74843

Please visit our corporate website: www.adidas-Group.com