Why Puma’s CEO is blaming a ‘reset year’ for more poor results

Despite taking decisive steps to fix inventory issues and sharpen its brand positioning, Puma’s fourth-quarter results were just as weak as the previous quarter’s.

Fourth-quarter sales fell 20.1 per cent on a currency-adjusted basis to €1.56 billion ($1.8 billion), while the company swung to a net loss of €336.6 million ($397.6 million), compared with a €24 million profit a year earlier.

Overall, Puma’s annual sales fell 8.1 per cent in currency-adjusted terms to €7.29 billion ($8.6 billion), down from €8.39 billion ($9.9 billion) in 2024. 

In the company’s Q4 report, Puma’s CEO Arthur Hoeld stated that 2025 was a “reset year”, promising that these lackluster numbers were only a reflection of the brand’s revitalisation efforts thus far.

Hoeld elaborated, “I’m satisfied with the progress we have made so far. We cleaned up most of our distribution by reducing promotions in our own channels and cutting our exposure to those wholesale channels that damage our brand’s desirability.

“To better position our product icons and our performance offering and tell more engaging product stories, we created the right structures inside our company. We also addressed operational inefficiencies and further optimised our cost base.”

With tidying efforts in place, the CEO promised a more straightforward and successful fiscal year ahead.

However, several retail experts noted that Puma still has its work cut out for it in refining the brand’s image and merchandising before it can return to profitability.  

How did Puma get to this point?

As Neil Saunders, analyst and managing director at GlobalData, told Inside Retail, “On the face of it, Puma’s results are terrible, and the outlook is bleak. However, a lot of this deterioration in sales and profit is the result of a deliberately engineered strategy.”

The current reality, Saunders noted, is that Puma has become too bloated and too unfocused as a brand. 

Over the past few years, he explained that the brand has released too many styles, created an overly complex range structure, and has become too ubiquitous. All these things have eroded Puma’s brand equity and destroyed its pricing power.

“Puma now wants to reset and rebuild. It wants to become a more aspirational brand and push up prices. But before it can step forward, it has to take two steps back. That means selling through surplus inventory, discounting to get rid of old styles and gradually pulling back on distribution.”

In the short term, these steps will cause the brand significant pain, as evidenced by this quarter’s lacklustre sales figures. 

However, in the long term, the brand should be rewarded with stronger sales figures and an overall stronger brand image. 

“Investors can see this and are buying into the plan,” said Saunders. 

Can Puma revive itself in 2026?

Hoeld described 2026 as a transition year, laying the groundwork for a return to above-industry growth from 2027.

Product strategy in 2026 will centre on football – including a major presence at the World Cup – alongside running, driven by the Nitro platform, and training, supported by Puma’s exclusive partnership with HYROX.

As well as Sportstyle prime and select, where the company aims to strengthen its portfolio by leveraging its heritage and enhancing storytelling.

Christine Russo, the principal of Retail Creative and Consulting Agency (RCCA), said that she is interested in seeing which of Puma’s revival strategies will stick and make a dent in sales. 

“Puma is in a rebuilding period. Normally, when a new CEO comes into a company, they are given a few quarters to deeply reset the company. This is known as ‘kitchen-sinking’, when leadership throws everything but the kitchen sink into a report to get all of the bad news out,” explained Russo. 

She noted that the brand has been focusing mostly on damage control so far by cutting ties with less-than-desirable wholesale partners. 

That, in turn, has caused the brand to “lose momentum that new product development and ineffective marketing couldn’t cure”.

Similar to Saunders, Russo remarked that Puma’s revival plan is still a work in progress, with elements that will need to be continually tweaked and tested.

With the 2026 World Cup coming up, Russo noted that now is a good time to see whether the brand gains any traction from game-related promotional events and the general excitement generated by events of this scale.  

With players like Adidas launching its first US soccer-focused store recently and a much-hyped collaboration collection with streetwear brand Bape, Puma will need to pull out all the stops if it hopes to stand up to its competitors in the next few months. 

Further reading: How is Urban Outfitters winning retail’s Q4 race?

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