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. In 2024, the expenses for fees for the auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft amounted to € 5 million (2023: € 3.0 million) of which € 0 million pertain to the previous year.

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, 2024, 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 and other contractually agreed confirmation services.

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

Supervisory Board

The total annual compensation to be paid to the Supervisory Board members in accordance with the Articles of Association of adidas AG, including attendance fees, amounted to € 2.9 million in total (2023: € 2.8 million).

The Supervisory Board members did not receive any loans or advance payments in the 2024 financial year.

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

Executive Board

The total compensation (expense-based) of the Executive Board members amounted to € 34.5 million (2023: € 40.3 million) in the 2024 financial year. Short-term benefits amounted to € 16.9 million (2023: € 12.3 million).

The short-term benefits comprise the one-year Performance Bonus with the performance criteria currency-neutral net sales growth, operating profit, and individual performance criteria.

As part of the compensation system applicable from 2024, the Supervisory Board has introduced a revised Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) for the long-term performance-related variable compensation. This LTIP consists of annual tranches with a term of four years each. The performance period is three years. The LTIP Bonus granted has to be fully invested into the acquisition of adidas AG shares after deducting applicable taxes and social security contributions. The shares acquired are subject to a one-year lock-up period. 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. The performance criteria determined in the LTIP 2024 comprise operating profit, relative shareholder return compared to the DAX, and two ESG targets. Costs for the LTIP amounted to € 5.4 million (2023: € 11.3 million).

In the 2024 financial year, a total of € 12.7 million were attributable to severance payments, settlement payments, and payments in connection with non-competition prohibitions (2023: € 15.5 million). Costs for payments after the termination of the service contract (past service costs of the pension commitment for Executive Board members) amounted to € 0.7 million in the 2024 financial year (2023: € 1.2 million). As at December 31, 2024, the defined benefit obligations for pension commitments for the Executive Board members in office in the year under review amounted to € 5.9 million (2023: € 11.2 million).

As of December 31, 2024, there are provisions for short-term variable compensation components for members of the Executive Board amounting to € 8.9 million (2023: € 4.5 million).

The current members of the Executive Board were not granted any loans or advance payments in the 2024 financial year.

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

Total compensation of the Executive Board members amounted to € 24.3 million in the 2024 financial year (2023: € 23.8 million). The fair value at the time of granting the LTIP 2024 amounts to € 7.2 million, comprising 40,239 shares promised.

Executive Board members who were first appointed after January 1, 2021, are not granted any benefits under the company pension scheme. Instead, they receive a so-called pension allowance in the form of an adequate flat, earmarked amount, which is directly paid out to the Executive Board members annually. In this regard, Bjørn Gulden received € 1.1 million, Arthur Hoeld € 0.3 million, Michelle Robertson € 0.4 million, and Mathieu Sidokpohou € 0.04 million in the 2024 financial year.

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 € 2.9 million (2023: € 2.8 million).

In the 2024 financial year, payments to former members of the Executive Board and their surviving dependents totaled € 17.3 million (2023: € 21.9 million).

Provisions for pension entitlements were created for the former members of the Executive Board who resigned on or before December 31, 2005, and their surviving dependents, totaling € 46.1 million (2023: € 43.6 million) as at December 31, 2024, before offsetting with the assets of the ‘adidas Pension Trust e.V.’ There are pension commitments toward 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 € 39.1 million (2023: € 38.1 million) arise for which no provisions were created due to financing through the pension fund and pension trust fund. There are pension commitments amounting to € 3.6 million (2023: € 3.4 million) for two former Executive Board members who resigned on or after December 31, 2019.

Companies opting for exemption under § 264 (3) HGB

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