Adidas CEO to Prepare Succession in Coming Years

BERLIN, Germany — The long-serving chief executive of Germany's Adidas said preparing the sportswear giant for a change at the top when his contract ends in 2017 will be among his biggest priorities, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Saturday.

"I will not stay forever," Herbert Hainer, Adidas's chief executive since 2001, told the newspaper in an interview.

"One of my key tasks in the next three years will be to initiate the change at the top and to escort it."

Hainer, who joined Adidas in 1987 and is the longest-serving boss among Germany's top 30 blue-chip companies, warned again that weakening emerging market currencies may pose risks to 2015 sales and margin targets.

"The strong euro is placing an enormous burden on us," he said. "Rouble, the Turkish lira, the yen, there's hardly a currency left that is not losing against the euro."

By Andreas Cremer; Editor Sophie Hares

Copyright (2014) Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions