Footwear giant Puma was on the back foot again today as plunging annual profits forced it to ditch sponsorships and slash its dividend.
The sportswear group also forecast that revenues for this year would be flat and said it would continue with plans close 90 loss-making stores, to leave it with 540 shops globally by the end of 2013.
Puma, whose chief executive Franz Koch is leaving in March, said it had assessed its sponsorship portfolio and “terminated endorsement contracts that are either unprofitable or are no longer part of Puma’s core categories going forward”.
Sponsorships that will go include sailing and European rugby. Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt and the Italian football team were the poster boys for Puma footwear last year but today it declined to comment on these contracts.
Pre-tax profits plummeted by 65% to €112.3 million last year after it was forced to discount to shift excess inventory. Puma is to slash its dividend to 50 cents a share.
