Puma is reporting that preliminary sales for the 2024 fourth quarter increased 15.5 percent on a reported basis to €2.29 billion. The company saw sales growth of 9.8 percent on a currency-adjusted (ca) basis for the quarter.
Puma reported that all regions contributed to the currency-adjusted sales growth in the fourth quarter, driven by a strong improvement in its Wholesale business (+6.9 percent ca) and continued growth in Direct-to-Consumer (+16.1 percent ca).
When compared to the first nine months of 2024, Puma achieved a stronger growth trajectory across the EMEA (+14.3 percent ca), Europe (+10.3 percent ca), Greater China (+7.4 percent ca), Other APAC (+19.0 percent ca), and North America (+2.6 percent ca), while LATAM’s sales growth was softer with +7.0 percent growth on a currency-adjusted basis.
Puma’s Footwear business grew 9.2 percent ca in the fourth quarter and Apparel was up 8.8 percent ca, while Accessories increased 14.5 percent on a currency-adjusted basis.
For the 2024 full-year period, Puma sales grew 2.5 percent (+4.4 percent ca) to €8.82 billion, which the company reported to be “in line with the outlook.”
For the full year 2024, all regions, product divisions and distribution channels were reported to have improved currency-adjusted sales compared to the prior year. The growth was accompanied by a 110-basis-point improvement in gross profit margin to 47.4 percent of net sales.
The full-year 2024 operating result (EBIT) came in at €622 million, which was flat to the prior year’s level and reportedly aligned with the EBIT outlook for the full year 2024. The full-year 2024 EBIT margin was 7.1 percent of net sales.
Net income came in at €282 million for the full year, which is below Puma’s 2023 net income of €305 million and 2024 expectations. Puma said this was mainly caused by higher net interest expenses and higher non-controlling interests.
“While we achieved solid sales growth in 2024 and made meaningful progress on our strategic initiatives, we are not satisfied with our profitability,“ said CEO Arne Freundt. “With a heightened focus on translating top-line growth to increased profitability growth, we have initiated “nextlevel”, a comprehensive efficiency program targeting cost optimization and operational improvements. Combined with decisive actions already taken, we will implement further cost control measures in 2025. While we continue to operate in a dynamic environment, we are encouraged by our improved growth throughout 2024 and expect 2025 to grow stronger than 2024.”
Puma reported that it has initiated the nextlevel program aimed at achieving an EBIT margin of 8.5 percent by 2027 by optimizing direct and indirect costs, including personnel expenses through better resource allocation aligned with the company’s strategic growth areas.
Puma noted that its cost efficiency initiative complements the brands elevation strategy which builds on its foundation for sustainable and accelerated growth.
“In what remains a dynamic environment, Puma will continue to make strategic investments in its brand to accelerate growth, complemented by the nextlevel programme that ensures an improvement of the underlying operating result starting in 2025. In combination with our brand elevation strategy, we are committed to achieve a 10 percent EBIT margin in the long-term,” the company said in a media statement.
Puma’s financial results are preliminary and unaudited.
Image courtesy Puma
