Egypt’s wealthiest man Nassef Sawiris has lost a total of €537.5 million ($621.8 million) since Aug. 4. The value of his stake in Adidas has dropped amid investor fears that supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could impact the behemoth’s sales.
Adidas is the largest sportswear and sports equipment manufacturer in Europe, and the second-largest in the world after Nike.
In the first half of 2021, Adidas’ revenues rose by 34 percent from €7.73 billion ($8.95 billion) in the same period of 2020 to €10.35 billion ($11.98 billion) as a result of strong double-digit growth in all its market segments.
Meanwhile, net income increased to €890 million ($1.03 billion), an improvement of more than €1 billion ($1.16 billion) compared to the prior year’s level when it posted a net loss of €217 million ($251.22 million).
This strong financial performance in the first half of its current fiscal year pushed the company’s share price up to an all-time high of €336.25 ($389.07) on Aug. 4 as investors intensified interest in the leading sportswear manufacturer.
In recent times, a statement by Adidas that supply chain constraints caused by the pandemic could cost it as much as €500 million ($578.5 million) in sales by the end of 2021 made wary investors offload stakes in the sportswear company.
This sell-off has caused the valuation per share to slump from an all-time high of £336.25 ($389.07) per share on Aug. 4 to £262.00 ($303.15) as of the time of writing.
This has led to a total 22-percent loss for shareholders in 68 days.
Meanwhile, Sawiris, a non-executive director who owns a total of 7,239,544 shares in Adidas, has suffered a loss of €537.5 million ($621.8 million) in the past 68 days due to his equity exposure in the behemoth.
The market value of his stake in the German multinational has declined from €2.43 billion ($2.82 billion) on Aug.4 to €1.90 billion ($2.19 billion) on Oct. 11.
Aside from his governance roles in Adidas, Sawiris is a non-executive chairman and a member of the board of OCI N.V., a Netherlands-based fertilizer producer.
Data retrieved by Billionaires.Africa revealed that the billionaire is worth $6.59 billion, making him the 425th richest man in the world.
