First Quarter 2025
Sales grew currency-adjusted (ca) by 0.1% to € 2,076.0 million (-1.3% reported). Sales in the EMEA region increased by 5.1% (ca) to € 891.7 million, driven by double-digit growth in EEMEA. In the Americas region, sales decreased by 2.7% (ca) to € 753.7 million due to a decline in North America, while Latin America recorded double-digit growth during the quarter. Sales in the Asia/Pacific region decreased 4.7% (ca) to € 430.5 million, reflecting ongoing softness in Greater China.
PUMA’s Wholesale business decreased by 3.6% (ca) to € 1,529.5 million. As anticipated, the softness was mainly driven by the U.S. and China. Our Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) business grew by 12.0% (ca) to € 546.5 million, led by the e-commerce business which grew 17.3% (ca), while sales in owned & operated retail stores increased 8.9% (ca). The DTC share rose to 26.3%, up from 23.5% in Q1 2024.
Footwear sales increased by 2.4% (ca) to € 1,186.0 million, driven by the Running, Basketball and Sportstyle categories. Sales in Apparel decreased by 1.5% (ca) to € 594.3 million while Accessories decreased by 5.7% (ca) to € 295.7 million due to Golf.
The gross profit margin decreased by 60 basis points to 47.0% (Q1 2024: 47.5%). Positive inventory valuation effects in the previous year as well as currency effects were a headwind. This was partially offset by tailwinds from sourcing, along with a favourable effect from the product and distribution channel mix.
Operating expenses (OPEX), excluding nextlevel related one-time costs, increased by 7.1% to € 904.9 million (Q1 2024: € 845.3 million). The increase was mainly due to the continued growth of our DTC business, especially e-commerce, and higher depreciation & amortisation (D&A) from investments in DTC and infrastructure. In addition, currency-related headwinds and timing of marketing activities weighed on the OPEX ratio, which increased by 340 basis points to 43.6% (Q1 2024: 40.2%).
Adjusted EBIT, excluding nextlevel related one-time costs, decreased by 52.4% to
€ 75.7 million (Q1 2024: € 159.0 million) due to a lower gross profit margin and higher OPEX. PUMA incurred one-time costs of € 18.0 million in the first quarter as part of its nextlevel cost efficiency programme. These costs were mainly associated with personnel expenses and other one-time non-operating costs. Consequently, the operating result (EBIT) decreased by 63.7% to € 57.7 million (Q1 2024: € 159.0 million) and the EBIT margin came in at 2.8%
(Q1 2024: 7.6%).
The financial result decreased by 56.8% to € -42.0 million (Q1 2024: € -26.8 million) mainly due to higher net interest expenses. Taxes on income amounted to € -4.2 million (Q1 2024:
€ -33.0 million) with a tax rate of 26.5% (Q1 2024: 25.0%) driven by higher withholding taxes and a different profit mix. Net income attributable to non-controlling interests was at
€ -11.1 million (Q1 2024: € -11.8 million).
Consequently, net income came in at € 0.5 million (Q1 2024: € 87.3 million) and earnings per share amounted to € 0.00 (Q1 2024: € 0.58)