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Puma records strong sales and profit growth in Q1

By Prachi Singh

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Business

Puma's sales rose by 15.3 percent currency-adjusted or 16.6 percent reported to 1,319.3 million euros (1,469.8 million dollars) in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. The company said, Asia/Pacific, driven by China, and the Americas contributed with double-digit sales growth, while sales in EMEA also increased. In terms of divisions, Puma added, apparel was the main growth driver in the quarter, followed by accessories and footwear. The categories running and training, Teamsport, Motorsport and golf on the performance side as well as sportstyle recorded strong growth along with double-digit increase in both wholesale and direct-to-consumer sales.

Commenting on the first quarter trading, Bjorn Gulden, Chief Executive of Puma SE said in a statement: “The first quarter of 2019 was the best quarter Puma has ever seen. Revenues of 1,319 million euros (15.3 percent currency adjusted) is the highest PUMA has ever achieved in a quarter and the EBIT of 143 million euros (EBIT-margin 10.8 percent) was also the highest absolute EBIT Puma has ever achieved. So, it has been a very good start into the year.”

Review of Puma’s first quarter results

Puma’s gross profit margin improved by 80 basis points from 48.2 percent to 49 percent in the first quarter driven by a favourable product mix with higher growth in apparel and a favourable regional sales mix with higher sales growth in the Asia/Pacific region. Currency effects, the company said, also had a slight positive impact on the gross profit margin development in the first quarter.

The operating result (EBIT) improved by 27 percent to 142.5 million euros (158.7 million dollars) in the first quarter 2019 due to a strong sales growth combined with a higher gross profit margin, corresponding to an EBIT-margin of 10.8 percent compared to 9.9 percent in the first quarter last year. Net earnings went up by 40.1 percent to 94.4 million euros (105 million dollars) in, supported by an improved financial result. As a consequence, earnings per share improved from 4.51 euros to 6.31 euros (7.03 dollars).

After a strong start into 2019 both in terms of sales and profitability, Puma has confirmed its guidance for the full-year 2019, which was provided on February 14, 2019. Sales are expected to report currency-adjusted growth of around 10 percent, slight improvement in gross profit margin compared to last year’s 48.4 percent, EBIT in a range between 395 million euros and 415 million euros and significant improvement in net earnings.

Picture credit:Puma media centre

Puma