German firm Puma's wholesale business rose 16.5% in Q4FY21

In the fourth quarter, sales increased by 14.3 per cent to €1,767.1 million. Among the regions, Americas reported the strongest sales growth of 31.3 per cent, driven by continued high demand for the Puma brand in the North American and Latin American markets. EMEA recorded sales growth of 14.9 per cent, driven by growth in Europe as well as emerging markets such as Russia, South Africa and Turkey. Sales in Asia/Pacific declined 5.4 per cent due to the current market environment in Greater China resulting from COVID-19 related restrictions and geopolitical tensions, while almost all other markets in Asia/Pacific reported double-digit growth rates, Puma said in a press release.

“2021 was a very successful year for us. Despite all the issues and obstacles related to COVID- 19 and political tensions around the world, we had the best year in PUMA’s history. The sales growth of 32 per cent to €6,805 million and an EBIT growth of 166 per cent to € 557 million are results that we are proud of. Compared to the pre-pandemic level in 2019, our sales even increased by 30 per cent. Our continued brand momentum combined with high operational flexibility are the main reasons for these achievements,” Puma CEO Bjorn Gulden said.

“Our strategy of working closely together with our suppliers and retail partners to maneuver through all the short-term issues and obstacles without hindering our mid-term momentum paid off. I am extremely thankful and proud of our Puma family. Many of our employees did far more than a company can normally expect from them and a lot of our external partners supported us in an extraordinary way. At the start of 2022, COVID-19 is unfortunately still negatively affecting our supply chain, inflationary pressures are having a negative impact on our costs and operating margins and the geo-political situation remains very tense. We will have to continue our hard work in this difficult environment, but I remain very optimistic for the future of both our sector in general and Puma in particular. Our continued brand momentum, strong demand for our products and very good feedback from our retail partners make me very optimistic,” explained Gulden.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (RR)