Puma Earnings Top Estimates on Running and Training Shoe Sales

FRANKFURT, Germany — Puma SE, the German athletic-gear maker that sponsors German soccer player Marco Reus and sprinter Usain Bolt, reported a smaller drop in third-quarter profit than analysts expected on stronger sales of running and training shoes.

Earnings before interest and taxes declined 11 percent to 41.1 million euros ($44.7 million), Puma said in a statement Friday, compared with the average 39 million-euro estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 8.4 percent to 914 million euros.

Puma continues to face pressure from “volatile currency trends in some markets and the weakness of the euro, especially towards the U.S. dollar,” Chief Executive Officer Bjoern Gulden said in the statement.

Gulden, starting his third year as CEO, has reversed a sales slump by refocusing the company’s image on sports and on- the-field performance. The earnings come less than a day after Bloomberg News reported that majority shareholder Kering SA is open to selling its majority stake in Puma after struggling for eight years to turn around the company.

After adjusting for currency effects, Puma’s sales rose 3.1 percent in the quarter, topping the 2 percent consensus estimate, according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Mario Ortelli.

Footwear sales, an important measure of the popularity of Puma’s brands, grew 3.5 percent from a year ago adjusted for currency shifts.

By Aaron Ricadela; editors: Kenneth Wong, Paul Jarvis.