Sign at the entrance to the Puma store in Midtown Manhattan.
Erik Mcgregor | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Puma shares plummeted as much as 18% Friday after the German sportwear brand posted worse-than-expected second-quarter sales and cut its full-year guidance, flagging the impact of U.S. trade tariffs.
In a preliminary updated after markets closed on Thursday, the retailer said it expects full-year sales to decline by a low-double digit percentage this year, compared with its prior forecast of sales growth in the low- to mid-single digit range.
Puma also said it expects to post an operating profit loss in 2025 — a huge swing from the 445 million euro ($523 million) to 525 million euro profit it forecast prior to assessing the impact of tariffs.
The company’s shares pared losses slightly to trade down 17% by 11:00 a.m. London time (6:00 a.m. ET).
“Amid ongoing volatile geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility, Puma anticipates that both sector-wide and company-specific challenges will continue to significantly impact performance in 2025,” the company said in a statement.
“Key factors include muted brand momentum, shifts in channel mix and quality, the impact of U.S. Tariffs, and elevated inventory levels,” it added.
The company said it was reducing imports to the U.S. from China and that it planned to raise prices from the fourth quarter starting in October, but said it still expects U.S. tariffs to have a mitigated negative impact on 2025 gross profit of around 80 million euros.
It added that it had frontloaded deliveries to the U.S. ahead of tariff deadlines, which has led to higher inventory levels.
We, as a company, need to take a hard look at ourselves.
CEO Arthur Hoeld, who was appointed on July 1 to revive the ailing sportswear brand, nevertheless acknowledged internal failings and said the company need to look at its product offering as part of a wider brand reset.
“We, as a company, need to take a hard look at ourselves, the results the market has shown are clearly based on us as a company not delivering against our own expectations,” he said during a media call after the earnings.
Puma’s preliminary sales fell 2% year-on-year on a currency adjusted basis in the second quarter to 1.94 billion euros ($2.27 billion), below the 2.06 billion estimated by analysts in an LSEG poll.
Quarterly adjusted operating profit, excluding one-time costs, logged a loss of 13.2 million euros. Puma incurred one-time costs, including related to its cost efficiency program, of 84.6 million euro in the second quarter.
Puma.
The sales drop was led primarily by a 9% fall in North America and declines in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Puma’s share price has halved so far this year as the retailer has confronted trade pressures and declining consumer demand in the highly competitive sportwear market.
The company said back in May that it anticipated industry-wide price hikes as a results of trade tariffs, but noted that it expected brands with greater dominance in the U.S. to lead the charge.
“We don’t want to be the leader in terms of the pricing change in U.S. markets,” Chief Financial Officer Markus Neubrand said at the time. “There are other players in our industry where the U.S. is far more relevant.”
