The sporting goods manufacturer is feeling good demand – but is suffering from lockdowns in production and high freight costs.
(Photo: imago images / Shutterstock)
Munich The DAX newcomer Puma has raised its forecast again despite corona-related production downtimes, material shortages and delivery bottlenecks. “The outlook for our industry in general and for Puma in particular is very positive in my opinion,” said CEO Bjørn Gulden on Wednesday.
In the third quarter, the growth of the world’s third largest sporting goods company weakened somewhat, as expected: sales rose by 20.4 percent after adjusting for currency effects to 1.9 billion euros. In the first nine months, the increase was 39 percent to five billion euros.
But optimism grew. For the year as a whole, Gulden now expects currency-adjusted sales growth of at least 25 percent. Most recently, Puma had forecast at least 20 percent.
In terms of profit, the lower end of the expected range was raised: Puma is now forecasting an operating result (EBIT) of 450 to 500 million euros. Gulden had previously expected at least 400 million euros.
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Puma is currently the third largest sporting goods manufacturer in the world. The gap to the market leaders is large, but the DAX newcomer has grown more dynamically than the competition in recent months. In the second quarter, Puma almost doubled its revenues to 1.6 billion euros.
Puma sees potential for more than ten billion euros in sales
Puma increased its operating result in the third quarter from 190 to 229 million euros. The net profit increased from 114 to 144 million euros.
The growth was recently achieved in a difficult environment. “In the third quarter we had to cope with a variety of challenges such as production downtimes due to a Covid-19 lockdown in South Vietnam, a problematic situation in the freight sector with high freight rates, insufficient capacities and overloaded ports as well as a very difficult market situation in China,” said Gulden.
The Puma boss had set ambitious growth targets. “Puma definitely has the potential to generate sales of more than ten billion euros. Then we’ll see, ”he told the Handelsblatt. That would mean a doubling of the proceeds. Puma recorded a slight decline in sales to 5.2 billion euros in the 2020 corona year.
In the medium term, Puma aims to achieve a double-digit operating return on sales in 2023. Last year, the margin had halved to four percent because of the corona pandemic.
The sporting goods company was included in the new Dax40 in September. The Puma share had already done well before. Since the high of 109 euros in August, however, the price has slipped to 103 euros.
The long-term forecasts in the industry are good. According to a study by Boston Consulting, global sporting goods trade is expected to grow by seven percent annually to $ 670 billion by 2025. In e-commerce, the experts expect double-digit growth rates.
More: Interview with Puma CEO Gulden – “Puma has the potential for sales of more than ten billion euros”