Adidas hoped its acquisition of Reebok would improve US sales

Adidas, the second largest sports firm worldwide after US firm Nike, cut its forecast for net income growth from 20% to 15% for 2007.

The news sent its shares down 8%, the biggest drop on Germany's Dax index.

Adidas bought Reebok in 2005 to boost its trade in the US, but recent figures show Reebok sales have fallen.

Product development

"Reebok's orders are disappointing and the outlook is lacklustre. It will take longer to put Reebok on track," said Nils Lesser, an analyst with Merck Finck.

While group sales at Adidas for the three months to the end of September were 53% higher at 2.9bn euros (�1.9bn; $3.7bn), the same period saw Reebok sales down by 7%. Net income for the quarter was 244m euros.

Adidas said it planned to invest an extra 50m euros in Reebok during 2007 to improve the product range .

However, the company said the Reebok business was still making money.

"Reebok is profitable. We will be profitable in 2006 and obviously also in 2007," said chief financial officer Robin Stalker.