FRANKFURT, July 30 — German sportswear maker Adidas missed profit expectations on Thursday after it reported results weighed by the costs of World Cup marketing, sending its shares down 17 per cent.

Core profit came in at 574 million euros ($657 million) for the three months to the end of June, Adidas said, higher than last year but about eight percent below expectations when compared to a poll of analysts by financial platform FactSet.

Adidas spent over 200 million euros more on marketing than this time last year as it developed a World Cup campaign that brought in footballing stars like Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal and Jude Bellingham — bringing total marketing outlays to almost one billion euros for the quarter.

Higher transport costs and US tariffs also weighed on the result, the maker of Gazelle and Samba trainers said.

Adidas also took in about 1.5 billion euros of sales linked to the World Cup, it said, selling four times as many football jerseys and twice as many balls as during the last event.

Mexico shirts sold best, Adidas said, followed by those of Germany.

Adidas slightly raised its guidance for the year, saying it sees sales growth of between nine and 10 per cent, up from a previous forecast of high single-digit growth.

It kept its core profit target of 2.3 billion euros. — AFP