For a while, Puma To be sold Rumours have been reported for several times, but recently, Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive of Kering group, the largest shareholder of the brand, publicly denied the news, saying that the group had no plans to sell all or any part of the German sports lifestyle brand 86%. Pinault is still trying to discover the potential of the brand. In 2007, Kering bought Puma at 330 euros per share, and now fell to 170 euro per share.

In a report last December, foreign media Bloomberg mentioned that in early 2014, Kering, a luxury brand such as Gucci, had unofficially approached some potential acquirers about the sale of Puma, including sovereign funds and some Asian investors such as the Middle East Qatar. However, Kering has not yet reached any definitive agreement with any company or institution on the acquisition, nor is it clear whether the luxury group will continue to sell Puma. For the above reports, representatives of the three sides of Kering, Puma and Qatar did not comment. In the near future, when the Puma brand announced its 2014 earnings report, its brand chairman Bjorn Gulden pointed out that the sales and profitability of Puma in 2015 will be improved.

Puma2014 share price trend chart

In 2007, Kering Holding Puma, the current shareholding ratio of 86%, according to Puma's recent stock trading price, the company's market value of about 2 billion 500 million euros (about 3 billion 100 million U.S. dollars), in December 16, 2014, the stock price fell 0.4% to 163.45 euro.

In April 2014, while looking for buyers for Puma, Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of Kering group, said he was convinced that the group needed a sports and lifestyle department, but it would not expand until Puma had made a good turn.

As for the above statement, Bassel Chougha, a British banking analyst at Beilen burger, commented that "it is a bit surprising" that Kering is considering their interest in the sports brand. "Obviously, that is to say, if they sell Puma, the market will react very positively to them." Because of the fierce competition, the gross profit margin of sportswear is much lower than that of luxury goods, and sports and luxury goods belong to the same company, which has dragged down the overall valuation of Kering. At the same time, as a sports brand, Puma is no more than an order of magnitude in terms of sales scale or marketing investment compared with competitors such as Adidas and Nike.

Where will Puma go?

Earlier last year, Puma returned to its brand. Moving costumes Positioning, announced in August the new brand manifesto "Forever Faster", and Jamaica's "flying man" Boulter, soccer star Balotelli as spokesperson - these initiatives made puma sales in the seven consecutive quarters of decline, the first growth. But analysts predict that the huge cost of sponsorship for the Premier League football team will also drag on profitability. In 2014, Puma's annual profits will be less than half that of 10 years ago.

Since its acquisition in 2007, Kering has been trying to reverse the decline of Puma in the past few years, innovate the product line of sports shoes, strengthen marketing and relocate to functional equipment, but it has never been able to achieve obvious results. According to previous forecasts, Puma's profit margin remained low in 2015, about 5.5%.