"Thanks to good sell-through to the end consumer, both in our owned and operated retail and with our key retail partners, our sales in Q1 developed above our expectation. For the first time in the PUMA history, we achieved sales exceeding € 1 billion in a quarter. Our EBIT also developed very positively with a growth of 70% to € 70 million. This stronger than expected start of the year further shows that PUMA is on the right path. Therefore we have raised our outlook for the full year to low double digit growth in revenue and the full-year EBIT to be between € 185 million and € 200 million."
PUMA's sales growth continued in the first quarter of 2017. Sales increased by 15.4% currency-adjusted to € 1,005.1 million (+18.0% reported), compared to € 851.9 million in the previous year. All regions supported the sales growth showing a double-digit increase. Footwear remained the main growth driver.
The gross profit margin improved slightly by 30 basis points from 46.8% in the first quarter 2016 to 47.1%. The increase was due to selective price adjustments and further improvements in sourcing.
Operating expenses rose by 12.5% and amounted to € 406.8 million in the first quarter 2017. That increase was driven by intensified marketing activities, investments in own retail stores and higher sales-related variable costs. Other operating functions kept the costs stable.
The operating result (EBIT) increased by 70.1% to € 70.2 million, as sales grew stronger than operating expenses, supported by a slightly higher gross profit margin.
Net earnings improved by 92.2% to € 49.6 million (prior year: € 25.8 million) and earnings per share were up correspondingly at € 3.32 compared to € 1.73 in the first quarter 2016.
PUMA's working capital rose by only 4.3% from € 768.4 million to € 801.8 million, despite the significant increase of sales and business volume.
In light of the strong first-quarter increase in sales and profitability as well as the positive business outlook for the current year 2017, PUMA raises the full-year guidance for its consolidated sales and operating result (EBIT).
The management now expects that sales will increase currency-adjusted at a low double-digit percentage rate (previous guidance: currency-adjusted increase at a high single-digit percentage rate). The guidance for the gross profit margin remains unchanged (improvement to approximately 46.0%; previous year: 45.7%). Operating expenses for the full-year 2017 are now expected to increase at a high single-digit percentage rate (previous guidance: mid to high single-digit percentage rate).
As a consequence the operating result (EBIT) is now anticipated to come in between € 185 million and € 200 million (previous guidance: between € 170 million and € 190 million). In line with the previous guidance, the management still expects that net earnings will improve significantly in 2017.