Puma Sets 2022 Sales Targets to Better Rival Adidas and Nike

BERLIN, Germany — German sportswear brand Puma expects to boost underlying sales by around 10 percent a year up to 2022 and bring its profitability closer to that of larger rivals Adidas and Nike, it said on Tuesday.

Puma's shares were up 2.9 percent at 1005 GMT, the biggest German small-cap gainer. The stock had dipped after French parent Kering said in January it would spin off the brand before rallying on an upbeat 2018 outlook last month.

Puma issued the medium-term targets ahead of a capital markets day.

Chief executive Bjorn Gulden has said he still expects Kering and France's Pinault family, which controls Kering, to remain long-term shareholders and does not plan a big strategy shift.

Gulden has revived Puma's fortunes by sponsoring top soccer teams and partnering with celebrities including singer Rihanna, but its profitability lags well behind bigger local rival Adidas and market leader Nike.

Puma said on Tuesday it wants to lift its operating profit margin to about 10 percent of sales by 2022 at the latest, up from the 5.6 percent it reported in 2017, and versus 9.8 percent at Adidas and the 13.8 percent Nike saw in fiscal 2016/17.

Shares in Adidas jumped last week after it raised its operating margin target to 11.5 percent for 2020.

Puma also said it will propose a dividend of between 25 and 35 percent of consolidated net earnings starting in 2019.

Puma last month said it expects to increase its operating profit by another third in 2018 and lift sales by 10 percent, predicting a recovery in soccer sales even after top team Italy failed to qualify for this year's World Cup.

By Emma Thomasson; editor: Victoria Bryan.