Burberry’s Quarterly Sales Fall Less Than Expected 

A man carries a Burberry shopping bag on New Bond Street in London, Britain, July 15, 2024. (Reuters) 
A man carries a Burberry shopping bag on New Bond Street in London, Britain, July 15, 2024. (Reuters) 
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Burberry’s Quarterly Sales Fall Less Than Expected 

A man carries a Burberry shopping bag on New Bond Street in London, Britain, July 15, 2024. (Reuters) 
A man carries a Burberry shopping bag on New Bond Street in London, Britain, July 15, 2024. (Reuters) 

British luxury brand Burberry reported a smaller than expected 4% drop in quarterly comparable store sales on Friday, helped by stronger festive demand in the United States.

Analysts had expected a 12% decline in comparable sales for the company's third quarter to end-December.

Burberry said it was now more likely that it would avoid a full-year operating loss. It reported an adjusted operating loss of 41 million pounds ($51 million) in the first half.

Third-quarter sales in the Americas rose 4%, and Burberry said New York in particular performed well. Asia Pacific continued to lag, with sales down 9% and mainland China down 7%.



Puma Announces Cost-Cutting after 2024 Net Profit Misses Expectations

A handbag with the logo of German sports goods firm Puma is pictured in a shop after the company's annual news conference in Herzogenaurach, Germany February 20, 2014. (Reuters)
A handbag with the logo of German sports goods firm Puma is pictured in a shop after the company's annual news conference in Herzogenaurach, Germany February 20, 2014. (Reuters)
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Puma Announces Cost-Cutting after 2024 Net Profit Misses Expectations

A handbag with the logo of German sports goods firm Puma is pictured in a shop after the company's annual news conference in Herzogenaurach, Germany February 20, 2014. (Reuters)
A handbag with the logo of German sports goods firm Puma is pictured in a shop after the company's annual news conference in Herzogenaurach, Germany February 20, 2014. (Reuters)

Sportswear brand Puma announced a cost-cutting program 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.

"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.

The cost-cutting program aims to get Puma back to earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin of 8.5% by 2027. The EBIT margin for 2024 was 7.1%.

For the fourth quarter, a key shopping period, Puma reported 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.