Covid-19/adidas: company to benefit from a €3bn "syndicated loan" mostly from a state-owned bank

"In order to safeguard the company's financial flexibility (during the Covid-19 pandemic), adidas received the approval of the German government for the participation of KfW, Germany's state-owned development bank, in a syndicated revolving loan facility amounting to €3bn," said the German equipment manufacturer on 14/04/2020.

"One of the conditions of the syndicated loan is that adidas de facto suspends dividend payments for the duration of the facility. Furthermore, the executive board recently took the decision to stop the repurchasing of adidas shares as well as to forgo its short- and long-term bonus for the year 2020, which accounts for a total of 65% of the target annual compensation. The company has reached an agreement with the local works councils to reduce working hours for several employee groups in Germany. Among other things, this agreement provides for paid leave, a reduction in overtime and also short-time working for 1,200 employees," explained adidas, which posted a net profit of nearly €1.97bn on 31/12/2019 (+16%, see below).

"Following the rapid global spread…