Puma sales drops as 233 new stores open across China

Puma sales surged by 15.5 per cent on a currency-adjusted basis in the first half of this year, to €2.546 billion.

The Asia-Pacific region led the way, with sales soaring 21.6 per cent in the second quarter, closely followed by the Americas, up by 19.7 per cent. Net earnings rose by 46.3 per cent to €144.1 million.

“The second quarter of 2019 developed very positively for us, with sales growing 15.7 per cent currency-adjusted and earnings before interest and tax increasing 39 per cent,” said CEO Bjorn Gulden. “All divisions and all regions saw healthy improvement.”

New styles of footwear sold well, apparel continued to be strong, replenishment orders for both apparel and footwear developed and the company’s direct-to-consumer business also performed well, he said.

Within Asia, China was the main growth driver for the sportswear brand, without breaking down Puma sales figures by market.

From a product-division perspective, the sales growth was driven by double-digit growth in apparel with an increase of 24.8 per cent as well as in footwear, which grew by 11.7 per cent.

Wholesale continued to drive growth with an increase of 13.8 per cent currency-adjusted, supported by the strong performance of key accounts. Sales through Puma’s owned-and-operated retail sales increased by 21.5 per cent currency-adjusted to €599.6 million including e-commerce.

In China Puma opened a net 33 owned-and-operated retail stores during the first six months and its partners a further 200.