On a currency-adjusted basis, Puma SE recorded a flat year-over-year sales increase in the first quarter, while Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) sales saw double-digit growth and Wholesale lagged behind. China and the United States were cited as the main causes of the wholesale drop. Progress made towards its NextLevel program, which aims to eliminate about 500 corporate roles worldwide by the end of the second quarter, was one aspect of the quarter that the business highlighted as a success.
Currency-adjusted (ca) sales increased by 0.1 per cent to US $ 2,325.1 million (reportedly down 1.3 per cent). Double-digit growth in EEMEA drove a 5.1 per cent (ca) increase in sales to US $ 998.7 million in the EMEA region. North America’s fall caused sales in the Americas area to drop 2.7 per cent (ca) to US $ 844.1 million, while Latin America saw double-digit increase in the quarter. Due to the continued downturn in Greater China, sales in the Asia/Pacific region fell 4.7 per cent (ca) to US $ 482.2 million.
At US $ 1,712.2 million, Puma’s wholesale business saw a 3.6 per cent (ca) decline. As expected, the United States and China were the primary forces behind the softening. While sales at owned and operated retail stores gained 8.9 per cent (ca), the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) business grew 12.0 per cent (ca) to US $ 612.1 million, driven primarily by the e-commerce sector, which grew 17.3 per cent (ca). In Q1 2024, the DTC share was 23.5 per cent; it now stands at 26.3 per cent.
Sales of footwear rose 2.4 per cent (ca) to US $ 1,328.3 million, with the running, basketball, and sportstyle categories driving the growth. Golf caused accessories sales to drop 5.7 per cent (ca) to US $ 331.2 million, while apparel sales fell 1.5 per cent (ca) to US $ 665.6 million.
A lower gross profit margin and higher OPEX caused adjusted EBIT, which does not include NextLevel-related one-time expenditures, to drop 52.4 per cent to US $ 84.8 million (Q1 2024: US $ 178.1 million).
Puma’s first-quarter 2025 performance was much in line with forecasts despite a difficult climate. The business is still concentrating on its controllables, and for the fiscal year 2025, it anticipates currency-adjusted revenues to increase by a low- to mid-single-digit percentage.
To support its long-term growth goals, Puma intends to keep investing in its network of retail locations, e-commerce, warehouses, and digital infrastructure. As a result, it projects capital expenditures (CAPEX) of about US $ 336.0 million in 2025.
