Como se combate o populismo? "Com eleições", responde Fukuyama

[Keyser Soze]

Puma Says Net Unexpectedly Rose, Boosts Forecasts on World Cup

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Puma AG, Europe's second-largest sporting-goods maker, said first-quarter profit unexpectedly rose and increased its annual forecasts for the second time in as many months ahead of this year's World Cup soccer tournament.

First-quarter net income increased 2.5 percent to 93 million euros, Puma said today in a statement. Analysts had expected profit to drop to 85 million euros, according to a Bloomberg survey. Earnings will fall less than 10 percent this year, the company said. Puma, based in the German town of Herzogenaurach, previously forecast a decline of 10 percent to 15 percent.

Chief Executive Officer Jochen Zeitz, who last year unveiled plans to invest in new segments to tap 3.5 billion euros in potential sales over five years, is banking on the World Cup to draw consumers. European orders are rising as fans buy the Italian national team jerseys and products such as v1.06 Trio Trainers from an African-inspired collection.

Sales will increase as much as 35 percent this year, Puma said. The company had forecast a gain of 30 percent. Puma said its order backlog excluding currency fluctuations was up 31 percent at the end of the quarter.

The company last raised its earnings and revenue forecasts for 2006 in February because of better-than-expected World Cup sales. The tournament, the world's most-watched sporting event, will be held in June and July in Puma's home country and give the company the opportunity to vie for market share with its two larger rivals, Adidas-Salomon AG and Nike Inc.

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Zeitz, who has compared Puma's brand to those of Apple Computer Inc. and Viacom Inc.'s MTV, has boosted the company's share price more than 20-fold in the last five years by drawing fashion-conscious consumers to designs inspired by the 1970s.

Puma will spend about 500 million euros on fashion items such as golf shoes designed with Swedish clothier J. Lindeberg, running and motor-sport gear and high-end lines by designers like Alexander McQueen. Zeitz has also said he may add non-Puma brands, such as the canvas-shoe maker Tretorn that the German company bought in 2001.

For the monthlong World Cup, Puma has sought to stand out from Nike and Adidas by becoming the jersey supplier for lesser- known countries such as Ghana. The tournament will take place in Germany.