BERLIN (Reuters) – German sportswear maker Puma reported stronger than expected second-quarter earnings on Wednesday on “very strong growth” across its product range and raised its revenue outlook for the full-year 2022.
The company said its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose by 34.4% on the year to 146 million euros ($148.06 million), compared with analysts’ average forecast for EBIT of 128.94 million euros.
“We feel that the increased investments into R&D, Innovation and Product Development over the past years are starting to pay off,” Chief Executive Bjorn Gulden said in a statement.
Second-quarter sales rose by 18.4% in currency adjusted terms to 2.002 billion euros. The company said it saw strong growth in all its performance categories, like Running, Training, Teamsports, Golf and Basketball.
“We do see an increased level of uncertainty around the world,” Gulden said, but added: “I remain optimistic for our sector in general and the PUMA brand in particular and we even raise our revenue outlook for the full year 2022.”
PUMA said it was raising its full-year outlook from previously at least 10% currency-adjusted sales growth – with upside potential – to mid-teens currency-adjusted sales growth. It reiterated its expectation for EBIT to be in a range of 600-700 million euros for the financial year 2022.
In late June, Puma rival Nike Inc forecast first-quarter revenue below estimates as it expects to discount more and wrestles with pandemic-related disruptions in China, its most profitable market.
($1 = 0.9861 euros)
(Writing by Paul Carrel, editing by Rachel More and Louise Heavens)
