Puma sticks to full-year profit forecast despite drop in Q3 earnings

(Reuters) -Shares in German sportswear brand Puma were expected to rise on Tuesday after it stood by its full-year profit forecast despite an 8.3% drop in its third-quarter earnings caused in part by a stronger euro.

Puma said it still expected “strong improvement in profitability” in the fourth quarter helped by lower marketing, sourcing and freight costs, despite a gloomy backdrop for consumer demand. Shares in Puma were expected to rise around 3%.

“While the market continues to experience significant macroeconomic headwinds and 2023 remains a transition year, we outgrew the market,” Puma CEO Arne Freundt said in a statement.

Sportswear giant Nike (NYSE:) had also flagged negative currency exchange effects in September.

Puma reported an operating profit of 236.3 million euros ($252.3 million) for the quarter, down from 257.7 million a year earlier. The company confirmed its target for an annual operating profit of between 590 million and 670 million euros.

Puma, which gets most of its revenues through wholesale, said its wholesale business increased by 3.1% in currency-adjusted terms, while sales from its own stores and websites grew by 17.4%.

Puma had taken shelf space in shops from Adidas (OTC:) and Nike when those two brands were pulling back from the wholesale channel to focus on their own stores, UBS analyst Zuzanna Pusz said, but now that the two bigger companies were turning their focus back onto wholesale, competition was more intense.

“Puma is a great company, but I’m just aware of the fact the industry dynamics are changing for them,” she said.

($1 = 0.9366 euros)