Thank you, Igor, for your very kind opening remarks. I really enjoyed them. Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, friends of adidas AG. On behalf of my colleagues on the executive board and the employees of adidas AG, I would like to welcome you all to our 2016 annual general meeting at the City Hall in Fürth. I'd also like to extend a very warm welcome to everyone following this AGM online via our live webcast. As you will know, this is, ladies and gentlemen, at least for me, a very special AGM. After 15 years at the helm of the adidas Group, today is the 16th and final time I will be reporting to you as the CEO of adidas AG. With your permission, my report will therefore be a bit more comprehensive than usual. I'd like to discuss the following topics with you today.
Firstly, the adidas Group's results in 2015. Secondly, our outlook for the current year, 2016. Thirdly, our development over the past 15 years, just briefly. Let's start by looking at the financials for 2015. Our performance last year can be summed up in one phrase, the adidas Group at its best. Not only did we achieve the financial targets we had set at the beginning of the year, we actually over-delivered on them. On a currency-neutral basis, sales grew by 10%. In Euro terms, this growth was even more impressive, with sales up 16% or EUR 2.4 billion to EUR 16.9 billion for the full year. That's the highest revenue in the history of the adidas Group. Adidas, by far our biggest brand, also recorded double-digit growth and generated sales of EUR 13.9 billion. That too is a new record. Reebok continued to grow with sales up 6%.
Our gross margin improved 60 basis points to 48.3%. Our underlying net income likewise recorded double-digit growth, rising 12% to EUR 720 million. These, ladies and gentlemen, are fantastic results. Results that are reflected in the positive development of our share price. I'm sure you have been following this development very closely. In 2015, the adidas share was top of the league in the German stock market index DAX with an increase of 56%. The DAX itself rose by just 10% in the same period. Furthermore, the adidas share outperformed its competitors in 2015. On the basis of our excellent financial results, we are proposing to this AGM a dividend of EUR 1.60 per share. That's EUR 0.10 more than for the financial year 2014.
Aside from being based on our strong operational performance last year, this dividend proposal takes into account our extremely healthy balance sheet and our positive outlook with regards to the profitability of the adidas Group going forward. This would equal a payout ratio, if you agree, of 47.9%, which is clearly at the upper end of our long-term target payout ratio of between 30% and 50%, which we, as you know, increased only last year. The continuation of our share buyback program in 2015 also demonstrates just how much confidence we, the management, have in the long-term financial strength of the adidas Group. In the year under review, the executive board partly utilized the authorization to repurchase own shares.
In the period from March 6, 2015, up to and including June 15, 2015, adidas AG bought back 4,129,627 shares for a total of approximately EUR 300 million, making the average purchase price per share EUR 72.65 per share. In total, the company holds 9,018,769 treasury shares, which it bought back within the framework of the first and second tranches of our share buyback program in 2014 and 2015. This represents 4.31% of the company's nominal capital. For more information about our share buyback program, please see the notes section in our annual report. Let's now take a closer look at our outstanding business development last year, starting with our categories. Here, I really have to begin with our streetwear label, adidas Originals. In 2015, the adidas brand was hotter than ever before, thanks in particular to the popularity of adidas Originals.
Fans of our brand were queuing up at major product launches to get their hands on a pair of adidas shoes. Indeed, some of them even camped out in front of our stores for several days. I have never, ladies and gentlemen, in all my 29 years at the adidas Group, witnessed such enthusiasm before. The huge demand for our products is a compliment to our brand, and one which is reflected, of course, in phenomenal growth rates. In 2015, adidas Originals grew by a breathtaking 36%. Please note that the growth rates I quote are always on a currency-neutral basis unless otherwise stated. Within our sports categories, football best demonstrates how we take our cues from the consumer's requirements.
In 2015, we realigned our football boot business by deciding to focus on just 2 types of footballers, the playmaker who controls the game, and the creative player who causes chaos on pitch. It was with these players in mind that we launched the Ace and X models, although not without risk, mind you, because as you all know, before that, we had 4 top boot models on the market, that risk paid off and sales of our football boots enjoyed double-digit growth in 2015. In fact, 2015 was our best year ever for football. Our sales of football products reached a new record high of over EUR 2.2 billion. Although 2015 saw neither a European Football Championship nor a World Cup.
Just imagine how great our potential is this year with both the European Football Championship taking place in France and the Latin American Championship Copa América hosted by the U.S. this summer. That was adidas. Let's move on to Reebok and TaylorMade-adidas Golf. Reebok is continuing to develop positively and grew 6% in 2015. This was accompanied by solid growth rates in each quarter. There is no better proof than this that we are taking the brand in the right direction. Reebok is focusing wholly on the fitness consumer, fitness being a global trend with more and more people wanting or needing to stay fit and healthy. With Reebok as a fitness brand, we as the adidas Group, are ideally positioned for the future too, in this growing segment. The golf market is a bit of a different story. Golf is currently not a boom sport.
Our golf segment cannot escape this stagnation. After a decade of strong growth rates in sales and profits, TaylorMade-adidas Golf underwent two difficult years in 2014 and 2015. This was in part due to the general weakness of the golf market, but also due, and I'm not trying to conceal that, to mistakes we ourselves made by responding to the stagnation partly too late and partly with inappropriate measures. We learned from this, and in the second half of 2015, we developed a turnaround plan for TaylorMade-adidas Golf, which we implemented immediately. Thanks to this plan, we will already see significant improvements in our golf business this year.
At the same time, we also began to take a very close look at our golf business last year, as announced, which has primarily involved strategically analyzing the question of whether and how this segment is able to support our long-term growth plan, Creating the New. This analysis has led us to a clear decision. We think the time has now come for us to concentrate on our core competence in the golf segment, too, which is the production and sale of innovative sports footwear and apparel. That's why we have begun talks with parties interested in acquiring our golf club brands, TaylorMade and Adams Golf, as well as our golf leisure brand, Ashworth. It goes without saying that we will keep you informed about the progress of the divestiture process. That brings me to the end of the overview of our main brands.
I'd like to invite you to go on a journey around the world. Let's take a look together at how successful adidas and Reebok were in key markets worldwide in 2015. Our first port of call is Western Europe, which is our biggest market in terms of both sales and profit. This makes the development last year even more pleasing. On a currency neutral basis, sales increased 70% and in EUR by as much as 20% to EUR 4.5 billion. This meant we were able to post double-digit growth in almost all countries, in particular in the U.K., Italy, Spain, France and Poland. We continued to grow in Germany, too, following on our extraordinarily successful performance in our home market in 2014, the year of the World Cup. In North America, our focus on this key market is paying off.
Sales increased 5% and we generated EUR 2.8 billion in revenues. This was in particular due to accelerating momentum within the adidas brand over the course of the year. In the fourth quarter of 2015, for instance, adidas grew 12% in North America. For us, there is no better proof that we are becoming ever more successful at making our core brand relevant to the American consumer. We are specifically investing in this market in order to lay the foundations for healthy, sustainable growth in North America. I'm 100% convinced that we can significantly increase our growth rate again this year. More on this later when we discuss our first quarter 2016 results. In China, we're showing no signs of fatigue. On the contrary, with growth in sales of 18%, China was our fastest-growing market in 2015. We are now generating revenues of EUR 2.5 billion in the region.
Branded products are hot in China, and adidas is one of the most popular brands. Additionally, more and more Chinese people are discovering sports for themselves. This shift to an active, healthy lifestyle is also being strongly promoted by the government. All of which means we are far from reaching the potential limits of growth in China, too. In Latin America, we likewise grew at a double-digit rate in 2015. This is a remarkable achievement considering the 2014 World Cup triggered a boom for our products in this region. Driven by double-digit growth rates at adidas and Reebok, we saw an increase of 12% in Latin America, bringing our sales up to EUR 1.8 billion there. We were unable to escape the complex political and economic situation in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
However, even though our sales declined by 11%, adidas is clearly still the market leader in Russia, with Reebok being a very strong number three. Overall, we generated revenues of EUR 739 million. Our management team was furthermore able to maintain the profitability of our business at all times, despite the challenging headwinds. Considering the circumstances, this is an outstanding achievement. In Japan, the economy has been stagnating for a number of years now. Nevertheless, we're doing extremely well in the market and kept our sales stable at the prior year's level of EUR 776 million. We had another excellent year in other markets in Asia, the Pacific region, and in particular, the emerging markets in the Middle East and Africa. Our sales increased by 14% to EUR 2.4 billion, making us more successful in these parts of the world than we had ever been before.
You see, ladies and gentlemen, the foundation of the adidas Group's success is very broad-based and thus extremely healthy. We are growing in the key categories of our brands, as well as increasing our revenues and market share in the majority of markets too. In short, 2015 was an extremely successful year for the adidas Group. On the basis of what we know today, 2016 will be even better. I'm sure you read about it. We got off to an excellent start this year. Last week, we presented our financial results for the first quarter of 2016. These figures show that we have not just kept up the momentum of last year's results, we've actually stepped up the pace and accelerated our growth significantly. Our sales went up 22% in the first three months of this year. In euros, this amounted to EUR 4.8 billion in sales.
Never before has adidas Group sales reached such a high level in a single quarter. By the way, ladies and gentlemen, this means that our sales in the first quarter of 2016 were well ahead of the total sales achieved by the number three in our industry for the entire past year. Our underlying net income in the first quarter grew significantly faster than sales, rising 38% to EUR 350 million. That too is a new record for a quarter. With growth of 26%, the adidas brand is the star of the quarter. This growth is distributed outstandingly across its categories with training, football, running, adidas Originals, and adidas NEO all posting double-digit increases. Reebok too continues to perform positively. With an increase of 6%, the brand has now been growing for 12 consecutive quarters or three years in a row.
From an all-around positive picture, we likewise see an all-around positive picture. We grew in all regions in the first quarter. We achieved impressive growth rates in the core markets of Greater China, up 30%, Western Europe, up 25%, and Latin America, up 19%. I am also especially pleased with our development in North America, where sales rose by 22% and the adidas brand grew an impressive 31%. This shows, ladies and gentlemen, that the measures I presented to you in detail at the annual general meeting last year are taking effect. We have put a new management team in place and strategically invested in new partnerships in the U.S. We are focusing on the needs of the American consumer more clearly than ever before, which is why we are becoming ever more successful at exciting people for adidas products in this key market.
No brand is currently growing as rapidly in the USA as adidas. I can tell you that. Two weeks ago, on the basis of this really strong start of the year, we raised our full year 2016 guidance. We now anticipate currency-neutral sales growth of around 15%, and we expected to increase net income 15%-18%, up to EUR 850 million. Last night, we raised our guidance again. Our net income this year will actually be even higher. In the second quarter of 2016, the adidas Group will benefit from a non-operational extraordinary effect as a result of the following new development. We have mutually agreed with Chelsea Football Club to terminate our existing agreement prematurely. The agreement will now be terminated at the end of the upcoming 2016/17 season and not as originally agreed in June 2023.
We are thus continuing the concentration process that is part of our sports sponsorship strategy. As announced last year, going forward, we intend to focus on fewer teams on the European club level. Fewer teams, the important ones. We wish to expressly thank Chelsea Football Club for the outstanding and successful collaboration we have enjoyed since 2006, and we are looking forward to our last season together. As compensation for the early termination of the contract, the adidas Group will receive a payment from Chelsea Football Club in 2017 that will already positively impact the group's net income this year in the mid-double digit EUR range. As a result, the group's net income from continuing operations is now projected to increase by around 25% to a level of around EUR 900 million. Ladies and gentlemen, these are excellent prospects.
Together with us, you can look forward to a successful year with a summer full of sports. Sports fans truly have something to look forward to this June, July, and August with not one, but three events taking place. The European Football Championship, the Copa América, and last but not least, the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. I can already assure you that our adidas brand, our products, and our athletes will be playing a key role at these events. On the basis of our strong start to the year and our positive outlook, the adidas share has continued to develop positively since the beginning of the year. Again, in 2016, the adidas share has so far been the top performer in the DAX index, with an increase of 27%. Just to remind you, the DAX, by contrast, fell by 7% in the same period.
This means that we are once again clearly outperforming the DAX and all of our competitors, too. The value of the adidas share has almost doubled between the beginning of 2015 and today, over the past roughly 16 months. In comparison, with an increase of 2% in the same period, the DAX has hardly increased at all. Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, there have been quite a few developments within the adidas Group since we met here in Fürth last year. The video you're about to see provides an impressive summary of the highlights over the last 12 months. Ladies and gentlemen, when I watch this video, there is one thing I feel above all, pride. I'm proud of what we achieved together in 2015. I will also admit that I'm not just pleased about the results themselves. I'm also very happy how we achieved these results.
As you will all remember, 2014 was a challenging year for the adidas Group. That's why we started off in 2015 by doing what all good athletes would have done in our position. We put our heads together and analyzed our strengths and weaknesses. We rolled up our sleeves, went back to the drawing board, and worked hard to realign our business. Our efforts paid off. The results we see today can be described as a textbook comeback. Today, the adidas Group is stronger, better, and more successful than it was 12 months ago. This success goes far beyond our excellent financial results. The adidas brand is in greater demand among consumers worldwide than it has ever been before.
It was adidas products that were responsible for fueling the sneaker market with the adidas UltraBoost, the adidas Yeezy, and the adidas NMD ahead in all the rankings of the most popular sports shoe models. Like I said, consumers were lining up to get the adidas shoe of their choice. Our unique collaboration with creative artists such as Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and Rita Ora, met with very enthusiastic response from the masses worldwide and continues to do so. We officially launched our new strategy, Creating the New, on January 1st, 2016. It had already released a tidal wave of energy in our company last year. Our strategy establishes clear priorities. We are focusing on the three topics that will give us the biggest competitive advantage: speed, key cities, the key metropolitan areas in the world, and open-source collaboration. Our strategy is also based on the power of sport.
We strongly believe we have the opportunity to change lives through sport. This thought is also driving our sustainability efforts forward. There are plenty of examples that underline our commitment to sustainability. On April 22nd this year, we abolished plastic bags in all adidas stores worldwide. This means we will save 2 million plastic bags a year in Germany alone. We've also committed ourselves to protecting the world's oceans in partnership with the organization Parley for the Oceans. That's not all. This summer, we're launching the first sports shoe made entirely of plastic waste. All of this has helped the adidas Group to become one of the most sustainable companies in the world. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January of this year, we were named one of the top 10 most sustainable companies for the third year running, following 2014 and 2015.
We are among the best 10 companies in the world in terms of sustainability. Our sustainability efforts comprise many key initiatives that are not just to my heart, but also to our employees' hearts, and they help us to be an employer of choice. We constantly strive to create the best possible working environment for our employees. In 2015, we were once again named the most attractive employer in our industry in numerous countries, including in Germany, Spain, Italy, the U.K., China, and the United Arab Emirates. In 2015, we created 1,400 new jobs worldwide, more than 500 of which here in Germany. This means we now employ more than 6,000 people here in this country, 4,400 of whom at our headquarters alone. They represent more than 80 different nationalities. We are strengthening Germany as an industrial center in other ways, too.
For example, by building the factory of the future, or Speedfactory, as it's known, in Ansbach. This will enable us to redefine the future of production in our industry. At our Ansbach-based factory of the future, the largely automated production of the first prototypes of state-of-the-art running shoes has already begun. This increases the speed of our production immensely. It will also, in future, allow us to manufacture our products where the consumer wants them. That's why we are already planning our first Speedfactory in the United States for 2017. The future of sport is also digital, which is why we are rapidly expanding our competencies in this field. In 2015, the adidas Group acquired Runtastic GmbH for EUR 220 million. Runtastic is one of the most diverse global players in the market for health and fitness apps.
Thanks to a highly active user community, the company has already achieved solid sales and profits. This investment represents considerable added value for the adidas Group. Together with Runtastic, we can create new digital sports experiences. On top of that, this gives us the chance to expand our user group of highly committed athletes even further. Runtastic already reaches 80 million active athletes and sports lovers. In order to be close to the latest developments in the exciting market of digital technologies and also to keep up with other game-changing innovations at all times, we also founded the Munich-based company, Anticipation GmbH. The job of this wholly-owned subsidiary of adidas AG is to identify business models of the future at an early stage and to be able to use them for the entire group.
It also involves collaborating with external business partners and startups, as well as financing such products and business models. One of our partners is the University of Munich, for instance. Under agenda item seven, we're asking for your approval to conclude a profit transfer agreement with Anticipation GmbH. Our CFO, Robin Stalker, will provide you with further information on this later. We, as the adidas Group, come into contact with sport on a daily basis. As such, we strongly believe that we have the power to change lives for the better through sport. We don't just believe that, we actively live it. For example, by supporting the German economy's initiative, "Wir zusammen," "We together," to help integrate refugees. Specifically, we help refugees via humanitarian aid, joint sports activities, and internships in Germany at adidas.
This list, ladies and gentlemen, is extremely important to me because it shows how committed we are to managing the adidas Group in a way that is beneficial to all the main target groups. Financial results are, of course, important. No question about it. They tell us whether we have been careful with the money that you, our shareholders, have entrusted us with. However, it is just as important to excite consumers, offer our employees secure and attractive jobs, and do our bit for the future of our planet. I'm sure you will agree with me when I say that today, the adidas Group is, in many areas, a role model. None of these are developments that we began only last year. These developments have characterized the adidas Group for many years now. At this point, I'd like to briefly look back over the past 15 years.
15 years in which I have had the honor of being the CEO of this great company. I became the CEO of adidas AG, which was incidentally still known as adidas-Salomon AG at the time, on March 8, 2001, as Robert Louis-Dreyfus' successor. Since then, we've done a lot. What have been the milestones in the history of the adidas Group since then? How have the key financial figures developed? In 2006, we completed the biggest takeover in the history of the sporting goods industry by buying Reebok. At that point, we had already made our exit from the shrinking winter sports segment when we sold the Salomon family of brands to the Finland-based Amer Group in 2005. At the Olympic Games in 2004, 2008, and 2012, and during the World Cup in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014, adidas athletes and teams took center stage.
In this connection, I recall with particular pleasure the success of the German and Spanish national teams, both of them adidas partners for many years now. The champions of the last World Cup. In the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, one of the world's leading sustainability indices, we were named industry leader 10 times in 15 years. We have systematically expanded our headquarters in Herzogenaurach and have now invested more than EUR 500 million in our world of sports there. We have already decided on our next major projects, for which we award the majority of our contracts to companies in the region. We constantly need more space because we are growing, and we are an employer of choice. We have quadrupled the number of our employees. In 2000, 13,000 people worked directly for the adidas Group. Today, that number is more than 56,000.
In Germany, we tripled the number of employees from 2,000 to currently more than 6,000 in the same time period. 15 years ago, the adidas Group generated annual sales of EUR 5.8 billion. In 2016, we anticipate sales of almost EUR 19 billion, more than ever before in the history of this company. During this period, net income grew faster than sales, multiplying from EUR 182 million in 2000 to around, for this year, EUR 900 million. That's the forecast for this year. You, as shareholders, have continued to profit from the positive development of the adidas Group. As Igor Landau mentioned earlier, over the past 15 years, you have seen an annual average return from adidas AG shares of 15%. In the same period, the DAX generated an average return of 3%. The enormous increase in company value also reflects the positive development of the adidas Group.
At the start of 2001, the adidas Group was worth just under EUR 3 billion. Today, you, our company, because I'm also a shareholder, today, that value is around EUR 24 billion. From EUR 3 to EUR 24 billion. Ladies and gentlemen, that's an eightfold increase in market capitalization. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm extremely pleased about this sustainable, positive development. Make no mistake, that doesn't mean the adidas Group has reached the limits of its growth. On the contrary, as you will have seen from the first quarter 2016 figures, we are on track again this year to set new records in terms of both sales and profit. I anticipate strong demand for our products in the long term, too. More and more people are doing sports, keeping fit, or pursuing an active lifestyle, all of which benefits our industry.
We are in a perfect position to take above-average advantage of these long-term trends because adidas is already one of the most popular brands in the world. It's chic, and in many countries, wearing adidas products for sport and leisure activities has become a status symbol. Reebok is also benefiting from the global fitness boom. That's why we're winning new consumers every day. Ladies and gentlemen, before you stands a completely satisfied and happy CEO. Despite all of these successes, there is, of course, always room for improvement. We mustn't rest on our laurels. I am nevertheless very proud of how we, as a team, made an impressive comeback last year, and I'm thrilled by how desirable our brands and products are around the world. We also made clear decisions with regard to our brand portfolio.
This brings me back to a point I made at the start of my speech. The adidas Group was not just in excellent shape in 2015. The adidas Group, your adidas Group, is continuing to deliver world-class performance in 2016, too. I'm now looking forward to spending my remaining five months in office continuing to actively support the implementation of our long-term strategy, Creating the New. In the summer, I will ensure a smooth transition to my successor, Kasper Rørsted. Kasper Rørsted has very successfully managed Henkel AG for the last eight years. He will strengthen our already outstanding executive board team from August 1st, 2016, and assume the role of CEO as of October 1st. There is no doubt in my mind that he will continue the success story of adidas AG together with this great management team.
I wish Kasper Rørsted and all the employees of the adidas Group all the best for this. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I'm deeply grateful to have served the adidas Group for 15 years as its CEO, and I deliberately say "serve" because this job has always been both a duty and a passion for me. In other words, for me, being the CEO of the adidas Group was and is the best job in the world. The credit for the successful development of the adidas Group is, however, by no means, by no means, mine alone. Like in sports, success at our company is always a team effort.
I would therefore like to extend my sincere thanks, first and foremost, to all the employees of the adidas Group, for it is thanks to them and their talent, dedication, and passion day after day that we are able to be the best sporting goods company in the world. I also wish to expressly extend this thanks to my colleagues on the executive board who are here with me today. Glenn, Robin, Roland, Eric, it's always been great fun working with you. Next, I'd also like to thank the ladies and gentlemen of the supervisory board sitting here behind me and, of course, you, Igor. During my time in office, the supervisory board monitored the actions of the executive board in an extremely constructive manner at all times and during all discussions, always with me, with the well-being of adidas AG in mind.
Thank you for this professional and successful cooperation. Last but not least, I would like to thank you, distinguished shareholders. Thanks to the trust you have placed in the supervisory and executive boards of this company, you have also made a major contribution to our success. I have greatly enjoyed our time together. Well, almost all the time. Please continue to put your trust in the adidas Group in the future, too. It has more than earned it. Thank you. Take care, and all the best.