PUMA confirms a single-digit sales increase on a currency neutral basis

07 Aug '08

7 min read

Year-to-date earnings per share were € 8.74 compared to € 8.84. Diluted earnings per share were calculated at € 2.98 compared with € 2.81 and € 8.74 versus € 8.82 respectively.

Net Assets and Financial Position Equity ratio at 61% As of June 30, 2008, total assets decreased by 2.7% to € 1,780.8 million and the equity ratio reached strong 60.7% after 60.3% in the previous year.

Working capital Inventories grew 7.8% to € 419.5 million and receivables were up 4.4%, reaching € 473.6 million. Total working capital at the end of June totaled € 552.1 million versus € 516.4 million last year, an increase of 6.9%. Capex/Cashflow For Capex, the company spent € 50.6 million versus € 30.8 million last year.

The higher investments are mainly related to payment on accounts. In addition, € 19.7 million were financed for acquisitions compared to € 4.9 million. Free Cashflow excluding acquisitions amounted to € -23.6 million versus € 69.4 million last year.

Cash position Total cash end of June stood at € 288.2 million versus € 443.1 million last year. Bank debts were up from € 59.8 million to € 65.6 million.

As a result, the net cash position decreased from € 383.3 million to € 222.6 million year-over-year mainly due to the investments in share buy-backs.

Own Shares PUMA purchased another 125,000 of its own shares during Q2. As of June, 700,000 shares were held as treasury stock in the balance sheet, accounting for 4.4% of total share capital, a total investment of € 171.4 million.

Regional Development Sales in the EMEA region reached € 299.6 million in Q2, a currency-adjusted increase of 7.6%. Year-to-date, sales increased by 8.8% to € 690.7 million. The region now represents 55.3% of consolidated sales.

Gross profit margin increased 60 basis points to 54.5%. Orders on hand were up 3.5% to € 576.2 million. Q2 sales in the Americas were up 13.9% currency-adjusted reaching € 146.7 million.

First half sales increased currency-adjusted 3.2% and were € 295.5 million. The region now accounts for 23.6% of consolidated sales. The gross profit margin was at 48.9% compared to 49.6% last year.

The order volume was up by 14.7% to € 246.2 million. Sales in the US-market were down only 0.9% in Q2 and 8.2% after six months. Sales development improved versus Q1 2008 and outperformed the trend in the order books.

Orders for the US end of June improved versus end of March, being now at $ 179.8 million or 14.8% below last year. In Q2, the Asia/Pacific region increased sales currency-adjusted by 17.0% to € 130.5 million and 15.1% after six months reaching € 263.9 million.

The total region accounts for 21.1% of sales. The gross profit margin was strongly up by 240 basis points and reached 53.6%. Orders on hand end of June were up 15.8% and totaled € 249.1 million.

Outlook 2008 Orders up almost 9% currency-adjusted Total orders on hand as of June increased 8.6% currency-adjusted and totaled € 1,071.5 million, representing a growth of 3.9% in reporting terms.

In terms of product segments, Footwear orders were up by 9.3% to € 638.4 million. Apparel orders increased 7.0% to € 372.1 million and Accessories 11.5% to € 61.0 million.

Management confirms a single-digit sales increase on a currency neutral basis Management reaffirms a currency-adjusted single-digit sales growth for the fiscal year 2008 despite a continued difficult consumer environment.

PUMA will continue with its marketing investments as planned in order to explore the long-term growth potential. The brand investments could affect 2008's EBIT margin. In a currently volatile market environment it remains difficult to outline the final impact on profitability.

PUMA AG

More Puma AG News... More Fashion News - Germany...