Puma is equipping a fourth Bundesliga soccer team from next season. CEO Arne Freundt announced a long-term partnership with RB Leipzig in Herzogenaurach. The number three on the sporting goods market replaces Nike as the club’s official supplier. According to media reports, Puma will pay 15 million euros per year over ten years, for a total of 150 million euros. In the Bundesliga, Puma currently has Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1. FC Heidenheim under contract.
Otherwise, things aren’t looking good for the group: Puma is bracing for headwinds in the next few months. The trading environment is challenging, negative currency effects continue to put pressure on returns, said CEO Arne Freundt before the annual press conference in Herzogenaurach. “Our sales growth and increasing market shares will take priority over short-term profit optimization,” says Freundt.
Puma is expecting a weaker first half of the year. On the way to the targeted sales growth of around five percent and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 620 to 700 (2023: 622) million euros, “we expect an improvement from quarter to quarter”. Puma shareholders are expected to receive a stable dividend of 82 cents per share for the past year despite the decline in profits.
It was said that due to an operating cash inflow that more than doubled from 177.5 to 369 million euros – a so-called free cash flow – this could be afforded. The devaluation of the Argentine peso had spoiled Puma’s results in 2023, as the number three on the global market behind Nike and Adidas had already announced in January.