Puma Celebrates Third Quarter Sales And Profit Recovery

Puma is celebrating a rebound in sales and profits in the third quarter after weak sales in the second quarter, boosted by increased demand in the third quarter, but the group's operating performance in the last three months of this year (2020) has been on track due to the continued uncertainty of the new crown pneumonia (covid-19) epidemic.

In the third quarter, after currency adjustment, puma's overall sales grew by 13.3% to 1.6 billion euros (US $1.8 billion). According to the financial report, sales increased by 7.2%.

Its operating profit (EBIT) increased by 16.8% from EUR 162.2 million to EUR 189.5 million, thanks to strong sales growth and proper operating leverage, although the gross margin fell 270 basis points to 47%, mainly due to the negative impact of the exchange rate, the increase of price reduction promotion activities and the adverse impact of regional mixed effects. Net profit increased by 13% to EUR 113.6 million.

Puma saw strong sales growth in the Americas (+ 20.7%) and central and Eastern Europe (EMEA) (+ 17.7%) this quarter. Sales in the Asia Pacific region fell 1.9%, due to slower growth in Greater China, combined with lower sales in India, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

Shoes, clothing and accessories all showed strong growth in the third quarter, up 13.9%, 8.8% and 23% respectively.

"The third quarter was much better than expected," said BJ ó RN gulden, puma's chief executive. Retail stores reopened, sports events resumed, consumer confidence improved, and our sales increased week by week. I feel that this wave of strong performance confirms puma's overall strength as a brand and sporting goods industry.

"Although the market environment has led to an increase in price reduction and promotion, coupled with the trend of the exchange rate, it has brought some pressure on profits, but compared with last year, it can even increase the profit before interest and tax (EBIT). This is achieved through continued strong cost control. When sales were extremely weak in the second quarter, we started to control costs by reducing expenditure but increasing more effective marketing activities. 」

In October, however, the latest development of pneumonia, as well as the number of infections in the world, will continue to be cautious.

"In the short term, we will continue to respond to this new outbreak and will not hinder puma's medium-term development momentum," he said. 」

Puma said it was unable to provide a reliable financial outlook for the whole year as the development of the epidemic remains unpredictable in the coming weeks.