Puma, the world's third-largest sporting goods group, is putting the brakes on its profit forecast due to negative currency effects.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) will be between 620 and 670 (2023: 622) million euros this year, the company announced in Herzogenaurach on Wednesday. Previously, the upper end of the range had been 700 million. Sales are expected to increase by around five percent as planned. Puma CEO Arne Freundt hopes that the second half of the year - and especially the fourth quarter - will be better than the first. Freundt spoke of "persistent headwinds from currencies, strained supply chains and subdued consumer sentiment."

In the first half of the year, currency-adjusted sales rose by 1.3 percent to 4.22 billion euros, while sales in euros fell by 2.1 percent. Puma alone absorbed around 150 million euros in exchange rate effects. The American business grew again, while sales in Europe shrank. EBIT fell by five percent to 276.2 million euros and net profit by as much as a quarter to 129.3 million euros. The figures were both slightly below analysts' expectations.

(Report by Alexander Hübner, edited by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)