Puma Shares Slip on Soft Sales

By Andrea Figueras

Shares in Puma dropped after the German sportswear group reported weak sales for the most recent quarter, as it looks to reposition the brand following years of challenges.

For the quarter through June, Puma logged sales of 1.69 billion euros, or $1.95 billion. That marks a nearly 10% drop compared with the same period last year. The fall was mainly due to reset measures under a turnaround strategy and lower consumer demand in key regions as a result of the war in the Middle East, it said.

The stock was down 4.8% to 26.83 euros in European morning trading. Puma's crosstown rival Adidas suffered its own share drop Thursday after it said heavy marketing spend related to the FIFA World Cup weighed on its bottom line.

Puma is pushing ahead with a strategy to give the business a shot in the arm under the leadership of former Adidas executive Arthur Hoeld, who took the reins at Puma last year.

"While 2025 served as a year of strategic reset and 2026 represents a period of transition, Puma is confident that the measures implemented thus far and those planned for the near future, are critical to re-establishing growth from 2027 onwards," the group said Friday.

The weak sales performance should mark a trough, analysts at Deutsche Bank wrote.

Puma maintained its guidance for the year as a whole. It continues to forecast a currency-adjusted sales decline in the low-to-mid single-digit percentage range and an operating loss of between 50 million euros and 150 million euros.

The company anticipates potential positive effects from lower duties and tariff refunds in the U.S. on profitability in the mid-double-digit million-euro range. However, this is expected to be offset by the hit stemming from the war in Iran, which will weigh on sales and profits, it said.

"While the results are broadly in line and suggest the company is on the right track in a year of transition, the lack of a guidance upgrade at this stage may be slightly disappointing," analysts at J.P. Morgan said in a research note.

Write to Andrea Figueras at andrea.figueras@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 31, 2026 06:10 ET (10:10 GMT)