Puma announced that in comparison with last year, consolidated sales in the fourth quarter of 2014 recovered and rose from €698.3 million to €750.8 million, which represents a currency adjusted increase of 6.3%.
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This was driven mainly by a stronger demand in the Americas as well as a considerable upwards trend in Accessories and further recovery in footwear sales.
In the EMEA region, sales increased slightly by 0.6% currency adjusted to €224.8 million, as economic conditions in some continental European countries remained challenging, while the UK enjoyed a very solid performance.
Revenues in the Americas region increased strongly by 15.0% currency adjusted to €319.3 million. Solid performances in the USA and Canada and strong growth rates in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico drove this performance.
Sales in the Asia/Pacific region rose slightly by 0.7% currency adjusted to €206.7 million. While China and India grew, Korea and Japan performed below last year's levels.
PUMA's Footwear sales in the fourth quarter improved, up for the second quarter in a row, by 4.3% currency adjusted to €310.7 million. Apparel sales improved by 3.6% currency adjusted to €293.0 million, while Accessories saw its sales increase sharply, up 17.1% currency adjusted to €147.1 million despite adverse market developments in the Golf category.
PUMA's gross profit margin increased from 43.2% to 45.0% in the fourth quarter of 2014. Lower price reductions supported by a better product mix in the quarter helped to improve the margin in Footwear and Apparel.
Footwear gross profit margin increased from 39.5% to 41.6%. Apparel margin rose from 44.7% to 47.1%, while the margin for Accessories decreased slightly from 48.4% to 47.8% impacted by the current weakness within the Golf business.
After four consecutive quarters of decline, operating expenditures in the fourth quarter of 2014 increased as a result of the intensified marketing activities of PUMA. As a consequence – although PUMA maintained its focus on a strict cost management - total OPEX rose by 8.6% from €306.2 million to €332.4 million during the quarter.
Combined with the increase in sales and the improved gross profit margin, this led to the higher EBIT (before special items) of €10.6 million. As no special items were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2014 (prior year: €129.0 million), the Operating Result (EBIT) increased significantly. Earnings per share in the fourth quarter of 2014 came in at €-0.30.
Consolidated full year sales were in line with the guidance for 2014 and increased by 3.3% currency adjusted to around €3.0 billion, which corresponds to a slight decline of 0.4% in Euro terms, reflecting the currencies headwind registered throughout the year. All regions contributed to growth, posting currency adjusted growth rates in the year.
Full year sales in the EMEA region increased by 1.3% currency adjusted to €1.2 billion, where strong performance in the United Kingdom more than offset weaker French and Italian markets.
In the Americas, full year sales improved significantly by 6.7% currency adjusted to €1.1 billion thanks to a strong demand particularly from the U.S., Canada, Argentina and Mexico.
In Asia/Pacific, sales rose by 1.9% currency adjusted to €696 million, as a strong demand from India and China outbalanced a decline in Japan, which was mostly related to the weaker Golf category.
In 2014, Footwear sales decreased due to a weaker first half by 2.4% currency adjusted to €1.3 billion, while the second half showed growth in the segment. Sales in Apparel rose by 7.6% currency adjusted to €1.1 billion. Sales in Accessories continued to improve and showed a significant increase of 9.3% currency adjusted to €586 million. ■