40 » Other Information

Employees

The average numbers of employees are as follows:

Accountant service fees for the auditor of the financial statements

The expenses for the audit fees comprise the expenses of adidas AG, Herzogenaurach. PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft was elected, starting 2023, to carry out the audit procedures.

Expenses for the audit fees of PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft were mainly related to the audits of both the consolidated financial statements and the financial statements of adidas AG, the review of essential components of the consolidated interim financial statements as of June 30, 2023, as well as the audit of the financial statements of its subsidiary, adidas CDC Immobilieninvest GmbH.

Other confirmation services relate to confirmation services provided for by law or contract, such as the audit of the non-financial statement, the audit of the project management and the project methodology of the new ERP system and other contractually agreed confirmation services.

Compensation of the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board of adidas AG

Supervisory Board

Pursuant to the Articles of Association of adidas AG, the Supervisory Board members’ total annual payment, including attendance fees, amounted to € 2.8 million (2022: € 2.8 million).

Members of the Supervisory Board were not granted any loans or advance payments in 2023.

The consolidated financial statements contain additional information on an existing brand ambassador agreement between adidas and the supervisory board member Jackie Joyner-Kersee. SEE NOTE 39

Executive Board

In 2023, the total compensation of the members of the Executive Board amounted to € 40.3 million (2022: € 22.0 million), € 12.3 million thereof related to short-term benefits (2022: € 6.5 million). The short-term benefits comprise the one-year Performance Bonus, the performance criteria of which include currency neutral sales growth, operating margin and individual performance criteria. For share-based payments, expenses amounting to € 11.3 million (2022: € 4.7 million) were recognized in the 2023 financial year. Of the total compensation, an overall amount of € 15.5 million is attributable to severance payments, settlement payments and amounts for non-competition clauses. In the previous year, no share-based payments were granted. Post-employment benefits (costs for accrued pension entitlements for members of the Executive Board) totaled € 1.2 million in 2023 (2022: € 3.5 million). As of December 31, 2023, the present value of the pension commitments for members of the Executive Board in office during the financial year amounted to € 11.2 million in 2023 (2022: € 15.3 million).

As of December 31, 2023, there are provisions for short-term variable compensation components for members of the Executive Board amounting to € 4.5 million. There were no provisions in the 2022 financial year.

The current members of the Executive Board were not granted any loans or advance payments in 2023.

Total compensation of the members of the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board pursuant to §314 (1) in conjunction with §315e HGB

The total compensation of the members of the Executive Board in the 2023 financial year amounted to € 23.8 million (2022: € 6.5 million). Thereof, € 10.9 million (2022: € 6.5 million) related to short-term benefits. Moreover, Executive Board members appointed after January 1, 2021, are not granted benefits under the company pension scheme. Instead, they receive a so-called pension allowance in the form of an adequate lump-sum amount, which is directly paid out to the Executive Board members annually. In this context, Bjørn Gulden received € 1.1 million and Arthur Hoeld € 0.3 million in the 2023 financial year. For the 2023 financial year, the Executive Board was granted an LTIP bonus amounting to € 7.6 million. In 2022 no LTIP bonus was granted. Any LTIP Bonus granted must be invested in full in the acquisition of adidas AG shares after deduction of taxes and social security contributions. These shares are subject to a lock-up period which ends upon expiry of the fourth financial year after the performance year. The LTIP payout amount is considered earned only after expiry of the lock-up period and only then can the Executive Board members dispose of the shares at their own discretion. By contrast, the amount deducted for income tax and social security contributions is already fully earned at the time of payout following the adoption of the consolidated financial statements by the Supervisory Board. Moreover, Bjørn Gulden was granted 11,886 adidas AG shares as reimbursement for the variable compensation forfeited at his former employer which are subject to a four-year lock-up period. The gross amount to be matched by the company in this regard was € 3.9 million. The increase of total compensation in comparison to the previous year is mainly attributable to the fact that the Executive Board members were neither granted a Performance Bonus nor an LTIP Bonus in 2022.

The total annual compensation to be paid to the members of the Supervisory Board in accordance with the Articles of Association of adidas AG, including attendance fees, totaled € 2.8 million (2022: € 2.8 million).

Former members of the Executive Board and their surviving dependents received a total of € 21.9 million in benefits in the 2023 financial year (2022: € 16.7 million).

Provisions for pension entitlements have been created for the former members of the Executive Board who resigned on or before December 31, 2005, and their surviving dependents, in an amount of € 43.6 million in total as at December 31, 2023 before offsetting with the assets of the ‘adidas Pension Trust e.V.’ (prior year: € 28.6 million). There are pension commitments towards former Executive Board members who resigned after December 31, 2005, which are covered by a pension fund or a pension fund in combination with a reinsured pension trust fund. From this, indirect obligations amounting to € 38.1 million (prior year: € 35.0 million) arise for which no provisions were created due to financing through the pension fund and pension trust fund. Provisions for pension entitlements have been created for two former members of the Executive Board who resigned on or after December 31, 2019, in an amount of € 3.4 million (2022: 3.1 million).

Companies opting for exemption under § 264 (3) HGB

The subsidiary adidas CDC Immobilieninvest GmbH, Herzogenaurach, is opting for exemption under § 264 (3) HGB.