EANS-News: PUMA AG Rudolf Dassler Sport / PUMA AG announces its consolidated financial results for the First Quarter of 2009

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Herzogenaurach (euro adhoc) - Herzogenaurach, Germany, May 8, 2009 -
PUMA AG announces its consolidated

financial results for the First Quarter of 2009

Highlights First Quarter:
. Consolidated sales up slightly by almost 1% currency neutral
. Gross profit margin at 52%
. Operational result before special items at EUR 114 million representing 16%
of sales, a decline of 9%
. First quarter result impacted by restructuring cost of EUR 110 million
. EPS before restructuring at EUR 5.36 compared to EUR 5.76

Outlook 2009:
. Market environment expected to remain difficult in 2009
. Management takes further actions to act accordingly within the currently
difficult market environment, in order to protect profitability and ensure
profitable growth in the future

Sales and Earnings Development

Global branded sales PUMA's worldwide branded sales, which include
consolidated and license sales, decreased currency neutral 3.1%.
In Euro terms, sales are only slightly down 0.5% reaching EUR
737.7 million in a challenging environment versus EUR 741.2
million in last year's quarter. On a currency neutral basis, Footwear
sales were down by 0.8% to EUR 407.1 million and Apparel 8.1%
to EUR 237.4 million. Accessories increased by 0.6% to EUR 93.2
million.

Licensed business Due to the take-over of a former licensee, the
licensed business was down 41.6% on a currency neutral basis. Based
on the licensed business, the company realized a royalty and
commission income of EUR 5.0 million in the first quarter versus EUR
7.1 million in the prior year.

Consolidated sales up In the first quarter, consolidated sales were
up 0.8% on a currency neutral basis and 3.6% in Euro terms to EUR
697.4 million. Americas increased by double- digit rates whereas EMEA
and Asia/Pacific were below last year. Currency adjusted, sales
in Footwear were slightly down 0.8% representing EUR 397.1
million. Apparel sales decreased 8.1% to EUR 222.4 million
due to high comparables which resulted from replica sales relating
to the Football Euro Cup last year. Accessories were up a strong
56.7% to EUR 77.9 million which stems mainly from first time
consolidation effects.

Gross profit above 52% In the first quarter, gross profit margin
reached 52.1% compared to 53.4% last year. The decline was mainly
due to the regional mix. Footwear reported 50.4% versus 53.4%,
Apparel 53.7% compared to 53.4% and Accessories 55.6% versus
53.7% last year.

Other operating expenses

Other operating expenses increased by 5.4%, rising from EUR 241.0
million to EUR 254.1 million, or from 35.8% to 36.4% as a percentage
of sales.

Marketing/Retail expenses remained unchanged to last year's level and
totaled EUR 127.2 million whereas Marketing was below last year and
Retail increased due to full year effects. The cost ratio decreased
from 19.0% to 18.2% of sales. Other selling expenses increased 20.0%
to EUR 84.5 million, or from 10.5% to 12.1% of sales, mainly due to
first time consolidations and currency impacts. Expenses for
product development and design were up 23.9% to EUR 14.6 million,
or as a percentage of sales from 1.8% to 2.1% as major development
costs occurred in US- Dollars with the US $ strengthening on a
like-for-like basis. Other general and administration expenses were
down 10.5% and totaled 27.8 million, representing 4.0% of sales
versus 4.6%. Operating Expenses include depreciations of EUR 15.8
million, up 19.9% compared to last year.

Operational result

Operational result before special items amounts to EUR 114.0
million versus EUR 125.8 million last year, a decline of 9.4%. As
a percentage of sales this relates to a margin of 16.3% versus
18.7%.

Special Items - Restructuring charge

PUMA has taken further actions to ensure long-term profitable growth
in the future given the currently challenging economic environment
and an unpredictable outlook. Management has implemented a cost
reduction program which will reduce originally planned costs annually
and lead to cost savings of up to EUR 150 million in FY2011.

With the resulting one-time expenses of EUR 110 million (net of
taxes EUR 75.2 million) in the first quarter, PUMA will optimize
its retail portfolio, the global organizational structure and the
operating processes. The number of employees in PUMA's global
workforce is expected to remain at previous year's level while
ensuring an even better alignment of resources with key business
opportunities. The program was initiated as a proactive step in order
to ensure an even leaner and more efficient platform that will help
PUMA to focus even stronger on the numerous opportunities that
arise in the sportlifestyle market in a challenging market
environment accordingly.

After adjustment for special items, EBIT amounted to EUR 4.0 million
compared to EUR 125.8 million last year.

Earnings Before restructuring costs, the company's pre tax profit
(EBT) accounts for EUR 112.4 million versus EUR 126.8 million and
net earnings to EUR 80.8 million versus EUR 90.1 million, a decline
of 10.3%. This results in earnings per share of EUR 5.36 compared
to EUR 5.76. The operational tax ratio came in at 28.5% versus
28.9% last year.

Taking into account the restructuring costs, earnings before
taxes declined from last year's EUR 126.8 million to EUR 2.4
million this year. Net earnings amounted to EUR 5.6 million versus
EUR 90.1 and earnings per share as well as diluted earnings
per share were at EUR 0.37 versus EUR 5.76 in last year's quarter.

Regional Development

Sales in the EMEA-region decreased currency adjusted by 3.0%
reaching EUR 366.1 million versus EUR 391.1 million last year. Sales
in last year's quarter were impacted positively by major sport
events. The region now represents 52.5% of consolidated sales.
Gross profit margin increased to 55.1% compared to 54.7% last
year.

Sales in the Americas were up currency neutral by 11.5% to EUR 178.1
million. The region now accounts for 25.5% of consolidated sales.
Gross profit margin stood at 46.7% compared to 50.4% last year. In
the US market, sales increased by 3.4% to $ 138.7 million in the
first quarter.

Asia/Pacific sales decreased by 1.2% currency neutral but increased
by 14.8% in Euro terms to EUR 153.3 million. The total region
accounts for 22.0% of sales. Gross profit margin reached 51.0%
versus 53.0% last year.

Net Assets and Financial Position

Equity

As of March 31, 2009, total assets climbed by 16.4% to EUR 2,108.0
million and the equity ratio reached 56.6% after 60.4% in the
previous year.

Working capital

Inventories grew 22.6% to EUR 446.7 million and accounts receivable
5.3% reaching EUR 533.1 million. Adjusted by acquisitions and
currencies, inventories were up 16.6% and accounts receivables by
1.3%. Due to lower liabilities at the end of March, working capital
totaled EUR 596.9 million (ex acquisition EUR 581.2 million) compared
to EUR 521.1 million last year.

Capex/Cashflow

For Capex, the company spent EUR 11.6 million in the first quarter
versus EUR 24.3 million in last year's quarter. In addition, an
outflow of EUR 54.7 million (last year: EUR 16.6 million) related to
acquisition cost.

Due to the aforementioned investments and the higher working
capital, free cashflow amounted to EUR -118.0 million compared to
EUR -49.7 million last year. Excluding investment for acquisitions,
free cashflow was EUR -63.3 million versus EUR -33.0 million. The
decline compared to last year is mainly due to the
aforementioned lower liabilities.

Cash position

Total cash end of March stood at EUR 267.6 versus EUR 357.2 million
last year. Bank debts were down from EUR 67.1 million to EUR 63.2
million. As a result, the net cash position decreased from EUR
290.0 million to EUR 204.5 million year over year, mainly due to the
aforementioned acquisitions and a lower free cashflow in the first
quarter.

Share Buyback

PUMA did not purchase own shares during the first three months. At
quarter-end, 950,000 shares were held as treasury stock in the
balance sheet, accounting for 5.9% of total share capital. Effective
April 29, 2009 all own shares were cancelled and share capital was
reduced accordingly. As of today, subscribed capital consists of
15,082,464 shares or EUR 38.6 million.

Outlook 2009 - Market environment remains challenging

During the first quarter, sales came in better than the order books
at the end of the fourth quarter 2008 had indicated. Due to
seasonability, the current shift in future orders to at-once
business in the current market environment, as well as the own
retail business which is not included in the order books,
quarterly orders are losing significance as an indicator of future
sales. As a result, PUMA will not release future orders as of the
first quarter 2009.

After 14 years of consecutive growth, the year 2009 will be taken as
a year of consolidation with a clear focus on adjusting the cost
basis in alignment to the current business environment. First
positive signs are not expected before 2010, the year that is
highlighted by the upcoming Football World Cup in South Africa,
where PUMA will once again be one of the most dominant brands.
It currently outfits eleven African Football Federations
including Egypt, the African Cup of Nations winner 2008, as well
as the reigning World Champion, Italy.

Furthermore, additional focus for 2009 is on working capital
improvements to strengthen the cash position and therefore the
return on capital employed by year-end.

With all the implemented measures, PUMA plans to protect its
industry-leading key financial parameters.

Jochen Zeitz, CEO: "Despite an ongoing slowdown in the global
consumer's environment, PUMA managed to post a solid sales and
earnings performance before one time expenses in the first quarter.
Due to the worldwide recession, we plan for business to remain
challenging in 2009 and have therefore decided to implement
further measures to align our cost structure with the current
market environment, ensuring a platform for profitable growth in
the future. The measures are expected to accelerate our
operational processes, make the organization even more efficient
and to further reduce time-to-market for our products. In
addition to the opportunities that arise in the different
sportlifestyle segments, PUMA will be particularly focused on
the Football segment, in which we plan to further grow our market
share with the first World Cup ever played on African soil,
tapping into the significant growth opportunities offered by
the market."

This document contains forward-looking information about the
Company's financial status and strategic initiatives. Such
information is subject to a certain level of risk and uncertainty
that could cause the Company's actual results to differ
significantly from the information discussed in this document.
The forward-looking information is based on the current
expectations and prognosis of the management team. Therefore,
this document is further subject to the risk that such
expectations or prognosis, or the premise of such underlying
expectations or prognosis, become erroneous. Circumstances that
could alter the Company's actual results and procure such results
to differ significantly from those contained in forward-looking
statements made by or on behalf of the Company include, but are not
limited to those discussed be above.

###

PUMA is one of the world's leading sportlifestyle companies that
designs and develops footwear, apparel and accessories. It is
committed to working in ways that contribute to the world by
supporting Creativity, SAFE Sustainability and Peace, and by staying
true to the values of being Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative in
decisions made and actions taken. PUMA starts in Sport and ends in
Fashion. Its Sport Performance and Lifestyle labels include
categories such as Football, Running, Motorsports, Golf and Sailing.
The Black label features collaborations with renowned designers such
as Alexander McQueen, Yasuhiro Mihara and Sergio Rossi. The PUMA
Group owns the brands PUMA, Tretorn and Hussein Chalayan. The
company, which was founded in 1948, distributes its products in more
than 120 countries, employs more than 9,000 people worldwide and has
headquarters in Herzogenaurach/Germany, Boston, London and Hong Kong.
For more information, please visit www.puma.com

Rounding differences may be observed in the percentage and numerical
values expressed in millions of Euro since the underlying
calculations are always based on thousands of Euro.

Rounding differences may be observed in the percentage and numerical
values expressed in millions of Euro since the underlying
calculations are always based on thousands of Euro.

Rounding differences may be observed in the percentage and numerical
values expressed in millions of Euro since the underlying
calculations are always based on thousands of Euro.

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end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: Puma AG Rudolf Dassler Sport
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

Kerstin Neuber

Telefon: +49 (0)9132 81-2984

E-Mail: Kerstin.Neuber@puma.com

Branche: Consumer Goods
ISIN: DE0006969603
WKN: 696960
Index: Midcap Market Index, MDAX, CDAX, Classic All Share, HDAX,
Prime All Share
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