HERZOGENAURACH (dpa-AFX) - German sportswear maker Puma SE (PMMAF.PK) reported Thursday a loss in its third quarter, compared to prior year's profit, amid weak sales mainly in Wholesale business. Further, the company confirmed fiscal 2025 outlook for weak results, but said it sees growth from 2027 onwards.
In addition, Puma announced its plans to reduce additional around 900 white-collar roles globally by the end of 2026.
The proposed job cuts are part of the company's decisive steps taken to reduce the cost base amid the expected significant sales decline and lower sales base.
PUMA aims to address its elevated operating expenses by expanding its cost efficiency programme beyond the previous initiative 'nextlevel'.
The company already had cut 500 roles under 'nextlevel' in 2025.
PUMA is also addressing its cost base by tackling operational inefficiencies and cutting the size of its product range to reduce the number of new articles introduced every season.
Arthur Hoeld, Chief Executive Officer of PUMA, said, 'We have identified the areas in which we need to take decisive action and outlined our strategic priorities to become one global sports brand with globally resonating product ranges and inspiring storytelling across markets. With these strategic priorities, we have the clear ambition to establish PUMA as a Top 3 sports brand globally, returning to above industry growth and generating healthy profits in the medium term.'
For fiscal 2025, PUMA continues to expect sales on a currency-adjusted basis to decline by a low double-digit percentage, a reported EBIT loss and capital expenditures of around 250 million euros.
Amid ongoing volatile geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility, PUMA anticipates that both sector-wide and company-specific challenges will significantly impact performance for the remainder of 2025.
Key factors include a muted brand momentum, shifts in channel mix and quality, the impact of U.S. Tariffs, and elevated inventory levels.
While 2025 is a year of reset and 2026 will be a transition year, the company said it is confident that the measures are an important first step in returning PUMA to growth from 2027 onwards.
In the third quarter, net loss amounted to 62.3 million euros, compared to prior year's net income of 127.8 million euros. Loss per share was 0.42 euro, compared to earnings of 0.86 euro a year ago.
EBIT, a key earnings metric, plunged 87.6 percent to 29.4 million euros from 237 million euros last year.
Adjusted EBIT decreased 83.3 percent to 39.5 million euros from 237.0 million euros a year ago, due to the sales decline and a lower gross profit margin.
Sales were down 15.3 percent in the third quarter to 1.96 billion euros from 2.31 billion euros in the prior year. Sales decreased 10.4 percent on a currency-adjusted basis, vastly due to strategic reset initiatives.
The Direct-to-Consumer or DTC business grew by 4.5 percent, led by the e-commerce business which increased 5.6 percent, despite reduced promotions to improve brand perception.
Sales in owned & operated retail stores increased 3.9 percent, reflecting growth in both full-price and outlet stores.
PUMA's Wholesale business decreased 15.4 percent to 1.39 billion euros.
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