Sportswear giant’s sales and profit soar, with China one of its greatest performing markets.

Puma is celebrating its “best quarter ever” as sales, gross margin and profit reached record levels.

On a currency-adjusted basis sales reached €1.319 billion (US$1.476 billion) up 15.3 per cent, while on a reported basis, sales growth was 16.6 per cent.

The German-headquarted sportswear retailer said the increase reflected continued growth in all regions and product divisions across the business.

Gross profit margin improved by 80 basis points to 49 per cent and EBIT by 27 per cent to €143 million. Net earnings rose 40.1 per cent to €94.4 million in the quarter.

“The first quarter of 2019 was the best quarter Puma has ever seen,” said Bjorn Gulden, Puma’s CEO. “Revenues … were the highest Puma has ever achieved in a quarter and the EBIT … was also the highest absolute EBIT Puma has ever achieved. So, it has been a very good start into the year.”

By region, Asia-Pacific – driven by China – and the Americas contributed with double-digit sales growth, while sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa increased “solidly,” the company said.

By division, apparel was the main growth driver in the quarter, followed by accessories and footwear. The categories running and training, teamsport, motorsport and golf on the performance side, as well as sportstyle all recorded strong growth.