Puma’s Gulden Rules Out Quick Fix as Full-Year Profit Slumps

PARIS, France — Puma SE, Europe's second-largest sporting-goods maker, ruled out a rapid recovery as it reported a slump in full-year profit.

“This is not a quick fix, but 2014 marks the start of a turnaround,” Bjoern Gulden, chief executive officer of Herzogenaurach, Germany-based Puma, said today in a statement.

Earnings before interest and tax before special items fell to 191.4 million euros ($262 million) in 2013 from 290.7 million euros a year earlier, the company said, missing the 206.1 million-euro average of 11 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Puma booked one-time charges of 129 million euros in the fourth quarter related to the closing of a product center in Vietnam and the transfer of personnel to Germany from London. Turning around the company, which has been undertaking restructuring measures since 2009, will take some time, Gulden said Nov. 8, pledging to make the business more agile.

Sales in 2014 will be “flat, but with improved revenue quality,” Puma said in today’s statement. The gross profit margin is expected to improve “slightly,” it also said.

The shares fell 2.1 percent to 203.7 euros as of 10 a.m. in Frankfurt. Kering SA, the owner of the Gucci luxury-goods brand, holds about 84 percent of Puma.

Puma, which is seeking to boost its performance-wear credentials, last month announced its biggest ever deal to supply jerseys, to English Premier League soccer team Arsenal.

By Andrew Roberts; Editor: Paul Jarvis

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