Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer said he is looking to 2010, when the soccer World Cup is to be played in South Africa, for a boost in sales.

The company reported a third-quarter revenue drop of 7 percent from a year earlier, as sales in its sports-performance division struggled.

Customers were keeping their purse-strings tied as a result of the financial crisis, the company said.

'Cautiously optimistic' despite crisis

Still, the world's second-largest sporting goods manufacturer said it was "cautiously optimistic" about 2010 results, with hopes that World Cup soccer fever, and a new approach to products at its US Reebok unit, would boost sales as early as the current quarter.

Adidas is betting heavily on World Cup, which starts June 11, to improve its fortunes. The company expects to outfit 12 of the teams competing for the Cup, including Germany and Spain.

The company, based in Herzogenaurach, Germany, predicted its soccer products would lead to record sales of more than 1.3 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in 2010.

"This year, our industry and our group have faced unprecedented challenges," said Hainer said in his third-quarter report, which was released on Wednesday. "However, we have tackled the challenges head on. We have successfully adapted to our difficult surroundings. And our drive for operational excellence has meant we have strongly improved our financial position."

Plans to release 'explosion' of new products

As Adidas continues to trim costs in the third quarter, Hainer says he believes the worst is over for the company - despite ongoing difficult markets in the USA and China: "The mood swings between fear and optimism," he told reporters in a press conference.

For 2009, Adidas predicted net gains of between 230 and 260 million euros, assuming fourth-quarter improvements tied to the World Cup.

The company said it will release an "explosion" of new soccer-related products, and it has already begun with a soccer boot designed by former France captain Zinedine Zidane. The Predator X boot is the 10th version of a series that started in 1994.

Next week Adidas will unveil the jersey to be worn by Germany's World Cup team.

New focus for outdoor sector

Further plans for Adidas include putting more focus on its outdoor-sporting-goods unit, Hainer told online business news source mittelfranken.business.on.

"Its true that we haven't focused on that unit in the last 10 years," Hainer said. "Now we are starting to make it a focal point. ... for example, we have renewed our partnership with (mountain climber) Reinhold Messsner, who wore Adidas shoes in the Himalayas 30 years ago."

"I strongly believe that Adidas will be the athletic outdoor brand of the future," he added.

jen/reuters/dpa
Editor: Sam Edmonds