Puma Forecasts 2025 Losses Amid Sales Slump and Tariff Challenges

Puma is on the verge of the red. The German sports equipment group said today that it anticipates losses in 2025 as a whole as a result of falling sales and the impact of tariffs on the group’s result. The company closed the second quarter of the financial year with losses of €247 million.

The company closed the second quarter with a 2% drop in sales, to €1.94 billion, according to preliminary results released by the company. “Exchange rates have been a major headwind, negatively impacting sales in euros by approximately €135 million,“ the company said.

In the period, the German company’s gross margin fell back by seventy basis points to 46.1%, affected mainly by increased promotional activity and exchange rates.

The drop in sales was driven by the group’s key markets, with a decline of 9.1% in North America, 3.9% in Europe and 3.9% in China. While sales in the rest of Asia Pacific also fell by 2.4%, in Latin America they rose by 16.1%.

Puma suffers from the impact of falling sales and the impact of tariffs on the group’s results

By channel, the overall drop in sales was due to the weakness of the wholesale business (down 6.3%), while direct-to-consumer (DTC) grew by 9.2%.

The increase in sales recorded by the footwear division (which closed the second quarter with an increase of 5.1%) was offset by the poor performance of apparel (down 10.7%) and accessories (down 6.4%).

“Amid the current geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility, Puma expects that both sector and business-specific challenges will continue to significantly impact results in 2025,“ the company said, adding that the company expects to continue to see a significant impact on its results in 2025.The company added that “key factors include weak brand momentum, changes in channel mix and quality, the impact of U.S. tariffs and high inventory levels.“

Looking ahead, Puma has announced that it “no longer expects to achieve the sales growth previously forecast for the remainder of 2025.“ “The lower gross revenue performance seen in the second quarter is expected to persist through the remainder of 2025, resulting in higher inventory levels,“ the company has detailed.