Sportswear brand Puma announced a cost-cutting programme on Wednesday after reporting 2024 net profit below the prior year’s level, missing its expectations.
Net profit was 282 million euros ($294 million) for the year, compared to 305 million euros in 2023, Puma said in preliminary results released after markets closed, adding that higher interest payments on its debt hurt income.
“While we achieved solid sales growth in 2024 and made meaningful progress on our strategic initiatives, we are not satisfied with our profitability,” said Arne Freundt, CEO of PUMA, without saying what its expectations were.
Freundt added that he expects stronger growth in 2025 than last year.
Net profit was also impacted by higher non-controlling interests, Puma said. Its joint venture with United Legwear & Apparel Co (ULAC) did well, a spokesperson said, but it could only book 51% of the profit, with the remainder going to ULAC.
The cost-cutting programme aims to get Puma back to an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin of 8.5% by 2027. Puma aims for a 10% EBIT margin in the long term. The EBIT margin for 2024 was 7.1%.
Puma said the programme would look for savings in areas like personnel expenses, but a spokesperson said Puma aims to keep its headcount stable and has no global target for layoffs.
“We will ensure that we allocate resources where we need them to drive our growth,” the spokesperson said in an email. For the fourth quarter, a key shopping period, Puma’s sales grew by 9.8% in currency-adjusted terms, to 2.289 billion euros ($2.38 billion).
Over 2024 as a whole, sales were up by 4.4% in currency-adjusted terms, to 8.817 billion euros.
Puma’s fourth-quarter sales grew by 14.3% in Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and 7.4% in Greater China. Sales of footwear, Puma’s biggest category, were up 9.2% over the quarter while apparel sales grew by 8.8%.
Puma will release its full fourth-quarter and annual sales on March 12.
Burberry announced a key appointment on Friday with the luxury business saying it will soon have a new chief information officer.
It has appointed Charlotte Baldwin to the role and she’ll join the business at the end of March. Baldwin will be responsible for leading Burberry’s global technology team and will join the executive committee. She’ll report directly to Burberry CEO Joshua Schulman.
He described her as “a highly experienced technology and digital leader with a track record of leading large-scale digital transformation”.
She hasn’t previously worked in the luxury fashion sector but has wide-ranging experience across some major-name businesses in Britain.
She’s currently the global chief digital and information officer at coffee chain Costa Coffee where she oversees the company’s technology, digital and data organisation.
Prior to joining that firm, she was the chief information, digital and transformation officer at private healthcare giant Bupa’s Bupa Insurance unit. She’s also held senior roles at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Pearson and Thomson Reuters.
Burberry has been navigating a tough period of late and Schulman joined in the top job last year, tweaking the firm’s strategy. His approach seems to be paying off with the company last week porting improved results, although the turnaround is still undeniable a work in progress.
Another day, another shopping centre delivering a “record-breaking” performance in 2024. This time it’s Gloucester Quays “capping off another year of considerable growth”, for the owner/operator Peel Retail & Leisure.
That included record Christmas trading at the key Gloucester mall, which helped overall sales for the year finish 6.7% ahead of the national average. Across November and December, retail sales grew 3.6% compared with 2023.
Looking at 2024 in total, an overall 7.4% year-on-year sales increase across its tenants was split between 6.1% for retail, and 8.5% for F&B.
But there was also double-digit growth from leading fashion, homewares, and outerwear brands including Next, Skechers, All Saints, Mountain Warehouse, Puma, Crew Clothing and Suit Direct.
It said sustained growth was seen across all categories “points to the increasing relevance of the Gloucester Quays experience”.
Paul Carter, asset director at Peel Retail & Leisure, added: “There have been various headlines this month about how challenged retail was around Christmas, so to have Gloucester Quays performing so well is a real credit to our team and our brands.
“These results also serve as a reminder of how relevant and in demand this outlet is. We have experienced consistent growth for several years, and that success can be put down to the quality of our offer and waterside environment. There is no doubt our catchment is responding to how we have evolved Gloucester Quays, as an urban outlet that combines a compelling shopping environment with dining and leisure to fit all tastes and needs, benefitting from a heritage waterside setting that few regionally can match.”
Italy’s Give Back Beauty, which makes perfumes for luxury brands such as Chopard and Zegna, on Friday said it had agreed to buy domestic rival AB Parfums to grow its distribution operations and add licensing deals.
Fragrances have been outperforming the broader beauty sector and Give Back Beauty founder and Chairman Corrado Brondi told Reuters his company did not rule a possible bourse listing in the future, adding it had no financial need for it at present.
Brondi said AB Parfumes had sales of around €100 million, which would add to Give Back Beauty’s net revenues that totalled around €300 million in 2024.
Give Back Beauty, which was founded in 2019 and has a distribution deal with Dolce & Gabbana and a beauty license with Tommy Hilfiger, has a core profit margin currently a little over 15%, it said.
AB Parfums is being sold by Italy’s Angelini Industries, a family-owned group that is mostly active in the pharmaceutical sector.
Give Back Beauty’s business is currently focused on fragrances, which represent roughly 70% of its revenues, but it aims to grow its skincare, make-up and haircare product lines, Brondi said.