Puma initiates restructuring programme and cuts jobs

Sportswear group Puma SE has launched a restructuring programme to get back on track following significant sales declines. The company announced in Herzogenaurach, Germany, on Thursday that costs will be reduced in the short and medium term.

To achieve this, Puma plans to cut a further 900 administrative jobs by the end of 2026. So far this year, Puma has already cut around 500 jobs. The product range will also be streamlined, and the number of new items introduced each season will be reduced.

Puma will focus on the football, training and running categories, as well as sportswear. The direct-to-consumer business, which includes its own retail and e-commerce, is set to grow more strongly, as Puma has so far been heavily influenced by wholesale.

500 jobs to be cut, product range to be streamlined

Overall, Puma has become “too commercial”. This is reflected in lower brand desirability; reduced distribution quality; and a product offering that is unable to compete in the market.

2025 will be a year of “strategic reset,” new CEO, Arthur Hoeld, said when presenting the third-quarter figures, according to a statement. In the short and medium term, costs are to be reduced. Group CEO Hoeld sees 2026 as a transitional year. Puma is not expected to return to growth until 2027.

Sales and profit drop in Q3

Puma recorded further declines in the third quarter. Sales fell by 15.3 percent to just under 2 billion euros. The gross profit margin, which is closely watched by analysts, declined by 2.6 percentage points to 45.2 percent. This was due to discounts in wholesale, higher freight costs, and provisions for the reduction of inventories. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) therefore slumped by a good 87 percent to 29.4 million euros. Puma estimated the one-time costs at around 10 million euros.

Inventories rose by 17.3 percent to 2.1 billion euros. According to the information provided, Puma has initiated the adjustment of its inventories and expects inventory levels to normalize by the end of 2026.

Upon the announcement of the restructuring, the company’s shares on MDax, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, which have already suffered heavy losses so far this year, continued to decline.

After an increase in the first few minutes of trading, the price quickly turned negative. Most recently, the stock fell more than 2 percent to 20.14 euros. This puts the stock around 55 percent below its level at the end of 2024 and 80 percent below its record high of just over 115 in the fall of 2021. Following the slump in its share price, Puma is now worth only around three billion euros on the stock market.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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