Restructuring and World Cup football
Puma’s EBIT (earnings before interests and taxes) dropped nearly a quarter (59 million euro) compared to a year ago (79 million euro), but the drop was within analysts’ expectations. Puma still expects to get an equally high turnover this year as what it managed in 2013, but in the first quarter its turnover (including exchange rate fluctuations) dropped 0.5 % to 726 million euro.
Luxury group Kering owns 84 % of Puma, a company that has been restructuring since 2009. It hopes to launch a new e-commerce platform by the middle of the year and a new concept store should open in Dubai in the fourth quarter. Kering has stated it will not acquire a new sports brand until Puma is back on its feet.
Puma will fight the world’s largest sports brands, Nike and Adidas, at the world cup football in Brazil, where it will be the official shirt sponsor for 8 teams, equal to Adidas. The latter has created the official ball, while Nike has 9 teams under its belt, among which Brazil itself.
