Puma, a German sportswear company, posted higher-than-expected second-quarter results on Wednesday, citing “extremely robust growth” throughout its product line, and boosted its revenue forecast for the full year 2022.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 34.4 per cent year on year to 146 million euros ($148.06 million), exceeding analysts’ average projection of 128.94 million euros.

“We feel that the increased investments into R&D, Innovation and Product Development over the past years are starting to pay off,” Chief Executive Bjorn Gulden said in a statement.

In currency adjusted terms, second-quarter sales increased by 18.4 per cent to 2.002 billion euros. The company reported significant growth in all of its performance categories, including running, training, team sports, golf, and basketball.

“We do see an increased level of uncertainty around the world,” Gulden said, but added: “I remain optimistic for our sector in general and the PUMA brand in particular and we even raise our revenue outlook for the full year 2022.”

PUMA raised its full-year forecast from at least 10% currency-adjusted sales growth – with upside potential – to the mid-teens currency-adjusted sales growth. It restated its projection for EBIT to be in the 600-700 million euro range for fiscal year 2022.

Puma rival Nike Inc estimated first-quarter revenue below projections in late June, citing the need to price more and deal with pandemic-related disruptions in China, its most profitable region.

(Adapted from RTE.ie)