HERZOGENAURACH, Germany (Reuters) – Adidas expects supply chain shortages to hit its sales growth in the first half of the year, particularly in North America, while it hopes to return to growth in Europe, where Nike is challenging the German sportswear brand.

Adidas said currency-neutral sales growth would slow to between 5 and 8 percent in 2019, from 8 percent in 2018, with a 1-2 percent reduction coming from the supply issues that mean it is struggling to meet strong demand for mid-priced apparel.

Fourth-quarter sales rose by a currency-adjusted 5 percent to 5.234 billion euros ($5.91 billion), versus average analyst forecasts for 5.2 billion, while attributable net profit came in at 108 million, versus consensus for 88 million.

($1 = 0.8863 euros)