Puma has reported a sales increase during the 2023 full year despite warning of the ongoing “geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges” likely to persist in 2024.

Puma store on Fifth Avenue, New York

Puma said sales for the full year were up by 6.6%

The sportswear retailer reported EBIT for the 2023 full financial year of €622m (£532.27m), which fell within the forecast expectation of between €590 and €670m.

Sales for the full year were up 6.6% to reach a total of €8.6bn (£7.36bn).

With an eye to performance during the fourth quarter, sales dropped by around 4% to €1.98bn (£1.69bn), which Puma said was a result of the weakening Argentinian peso currency.

Despite this, the German sports brand said EBIT during the fourth quarter was “strong” and reached €94m (£80.4m), which was “fully in line with expectations”.

In terms of outlook, Puma said it foresees  “geopolitical and macroeonomic challenges as well as highly volatile currencies to persist”, which are likely to hit both consumer sentiment and demand during the first half.

Puma chief executive Arne Freundt said: “While we cannot change these external factors, we continue to stay 100% focused on elevating the brand and bringing exciting product newness to the market.

“We are in a better position at the start of 2024 than we were at the start of 2023: we have cleared our inventories, we have a product pipeline with exciting product newness and innovations, and we will launch our new brand campaign soon. We continue to stay hungry and have the ambition to continue to grab market shares.”