The chief executive of Adidas has warned that the fall in the Russian rouble and the political uncertainty in the region are creating “considerable risk” for the sportswear group.

Speaking at Adidas’s annual results in Germany, Herbert Hainer warned that the company was likely to suffer negative effects from the turmoil in Ukraine. Russia is one of Adidas’s key growth markets and one of the countries where it has a clear lead in sales over arch-rival Nike.

“We cannot ignore the significant weakness of the Russian rouble since the beginning of the year as well as the current uncertainty in the region, both of which have added considerable risk to our results in euros,” MR Hainer said. Adidas said currency effects were having a major impact on its business. – ( Copyright the Financial Times Limited 2014 )