DGAP-News

PUMA SE: PUMA meets Full-Year Sales Guidance - Seite 2

In the EMEA region, sales declined by 7.6% currency adjusted to EUR 226
million as economic conditions across most of Europe remained challenging.
Solid sales growth in Russia and Turkey was not enough to offset weaker
performances in Western and Southern European countries.
Revenues in the Americas region decreased by 3.5% currency adjusted to EUR
268 million, where solid performances in the USA and Canada were offset by
decreases in Latin America. Mexico and Chile in particular declined on high
comparables after strong performances last year.

Sales in the Asia/Pacific region decreased by 2.8% currency adjusted to EUR
205 million. While India continued to grow across multiple categories
(Running, Training/Fitness), the rest of the region performed either at or
slightly below last year's levels.

In terms of segments, PUMA's Footwear sales in the fourth quarter declined
by 12.9% currency adjusted to EUR 291 million as pressure continued across
most categories. Apparel sales fell slightly by 1.1% currency adjusted to
EUR 284 million. Accessories sales improved by 10.6% currency adjusted to
EUR 123 million.

Special items booked in the fourth quarter
PUMA's gross profit margin declined from 44.6% to 43.2% in the fourth
quarter of 2013. This was mainly due to selective discounting to clean up
inventory and FX impacts. Footwear gross profit margin decreased from 41.8%
to 39.5%. Apparel margins fell from 46.6% to 44.7% and the margin for
Accessories rose from 48.0% to 48.4%.

Operating expenditures continued to decline further, thanks to the positive
impact from the measures implemented in the ongoing Transformation and Cost
Reduction Program. As a consequence, OPEX was reduced by 4.8% from EUR 322
million to EUR 306 million in the quarter. Despite the continuous reduction
in OPEX, the decline in sales combined with the lower gross profit margin
led to a decrease in EBIT (before special items) to EUR 1.1 million.

As announced with the third-quarter results in November last year, PUMA
booked EUR 129 million of special items in the fourth quarter, consisting
mostly of non-cash effective impairments of goodwill and trademarks as well
as costs related to the strategic initiatives. Those include the
centralization of PUMA's international product functions from London and
the intended centralization of Global and European Retail operations from
Switzerland to its Herzogenaurach headquarters as well as the closure of
the PUMA Village development center in Vietnam.