DGAP-News

PUMA SE: Strong Sales and EBIT growth in the First Quarter - Seite 2

The gross profit margin improved slightly by 30 basis points from 46.8% in the first quarter 2016 to 47.1%. The increase was due to selective price adjustments and further improvements in sourcing.

Operating expenses rose by 12.5% and amounted to EUR 406.8 million in the first quarter 2017. That increase was driven by intensified marketing activities, investments in own retail stores and higher sales-related variable costs. Other operating functions kept the costs stable.

The operating result (EBIT) increased by 70.1% to EUR 70.2 million, as sales grew stronger than operating expenses, supported by a slightly higher gross profit margin.

Net earnings improved by 92.2% to EUR 49.6 million (prior year: EUR 25.8 million) and earnings per share were up correspondingly at EUR 3.32 compared to EUR 1.73 in the first quarter 2016.

Working Capital:

PUMA's working capital rose by only 4.3% from EUR 768.4 million to EUR 801.8 million, despite the significant increase of sales and business volume.

Outlook 2017:

In light of the strong first-quarter increase in sales and profitability as well as the positive business outlook for the current year 2017, PUMA raises the full-year guidance for its consolidated sales and operating result (EBIT).

The management now expects that sales will increase currency-adjusted at a low double-digit percentage rate (previous guidance: currency-adjusted increase at a high single-digit percentage rate). The guidance for the gross profit margin remains unchanged (improvement to approximately 46.0%; previous year: 45.7%). Operating expenses for the full-year 2017 are now expected to increase at a high single-digit percentage rate (previous guidance: mid to high single-digit percentage rate).

As a consequence the operating result (EBIT) is now anticipated to come in between EUR 185 million and EUR 200 million (previous guidance: between EUR 170 million and EUR 190 million). In line with the previous guidance, the management still expects that net earnings will improve significantly in 2017.

Rounding differences may be observed in the percentage and numerical values expressed in millions of Euro since the underlying calculations are always based on thousands of Euro.