By Ellen Emmerentze Jervell 

FRANKFURT-- Adidas AG said Wednesday it is actively seeking a buyer for parts of its golf unit, after years of slumping sales.

The German sportswear maker said a strategic review finished in March convinced its executive board that it should divest its Taylormade-Adidas Golf, Adams and Ashworth golf brands. These brands largely produce golf hardware. The company would continue to focus on golf apparel and footwear through its Adidas Golf brand, it said.

Taylormade-Adidas Golf, which Adidas bought along with Salomon in 1997, used to be one of the company's top performing business units and is still the market-leading golf brand.

Ashworth was bought by Adidas for $72.8 million in 2008, and Adams Golf for $70 million in 2012.

But in 2014, its golfing adventure came to an abrupt halt. Adidas had pushed too many products into the market and failed to notice how consumers' interest in the sport was waning.

When numbers turned red, Adidas Chief Executive Herbert Hainer said he would introduce a restructuring program to improve the business' profitability. The program did, however, prove to be pricey, and although the golf business seemed to be recovering, its sales were still far below the level they were at three years ago.

In 2012, Taylormade-Adidas Golf capped a successful year with revenue of EUR1.4 billion ($1.6 billion). Last year, it had slumped to EUR903 million.

In mid-2015 Adidas announced it was "looking at future options for the golf business." It hired Guggenheim Partners LLC to help.

Adidas published preliminary first-quarter earnings and raised its guidance for 2016 on April 27. Wednesday, it also published regional figures, which showed that sales in North America had been rising 20%, compared with the same period a year earlier.

"I am particularly pleased with our strong development in North America, " said Adidas Chief Executive Herbert Hainer. "This shows that our focus on this important market is paying off."

NPD Group analyst Matt Powell said Adidas's sales in the U.S. rose more than 50% in March. The company did particularly well in the lifestyle running, classics and casual footwear categories, Mr. Powell said.

Natasha Cazin, an analyst at Euromonitor, called Adidas's recent strategic moves in the U.S. "encouraging."

"Regardless, the company still needs to keep its eye on the ball, particularly in China and Western Europe, where its rival Nike has stolen market share," she said.

Sales rose in all other regions too, including Russia, where they were up 2% despite the current turbulent macroeconomic environment in the country.

In the first quarter of 2016, Taylormade-Adidas Golf revenue was down 1%.

A final decision on the golf divestiture, including the detailed terms of a potential agreement, is still subject to approval by the supervisory board, the company said Wednesday.

Natascha Divac and Natalie Schwab contributed to this article.

Write to Ellen Emmerentze Jervell at ellen.jervell@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 04, 2016 02:43 ET (06:43 GMT)