However, Puma’s gross profit margin remained flat in the quarter at 45.8%, despite a stronger U.S. dollar. Sales rose 11.9% in the EMEA region thanks to strong demand for footwear products, to currency adjusted to €408.6 million (+8.7% reported), with performance in France and Germany being particularly strong.
Sales in the Americas are reported to have improved 12.2% currency adjusted to €342.9 million (+5.5% reported). According to Puma, the weakness of Latin currencies, notably the Argentine Peso, continued to impact the sales development in euro terms. As for the Asia/Pacific (APAC) region, the company achieved sales of €238.7 million, representing a 6.9% rise currency adjusted (+11.7% reported), and China and India delivering double-digit growth.
Earnings in the first nine months of 2016 recorded a 10% increase in sales to currency adjusted €2.66 billion (+6% reported) based on growth across all regions and product segments. The strong U.S. dollar in 2016 compared to a year ago is said to have led to a slight decrease of gross profit margin to 46.1%. The footwear division improved by 11% currency adjusted to €1.21 billion (+5.7% reported). This development was based on strong demand in the Running, Training, Sportstyle and Fundamentals categories.
“We have seen a solid improvement in the sell-through of our products at retail in the third quarter. New product lines like the Fierce, the Platform, the Ignite Dual and the Fenty lines have shown to be “right” for the consumers and our marketing with personalities like Rihanna, Kylie Jenner, Cara Delevingne and, of course the unbelievable performance of Usain Bolt, have increased our brand heat”, said Bjørn Gulden, CEO, Puma SE. “More consumers are buying our new products at full price and retailers are therefore more satisfied with us. It is now our job to use this momentum to get more of the right Puma products on their shelves”, he added.
Given Puma’s positive performance over the first nine months of 2016, the company says it continues to expect a currency adjusted high single-digit increase of net sales, a gross profit margin on previous year’s level (45.5%), and an increase of currency adjusted operating expenses in a mid to high single-digit range for the full-year.
