Covid-19: a negative impact on business "short-term normalisation will not occur" (Puma)

"Covid-19 (which started in Wuhan, China in December 2019) has negatively impacted our business since the beginning of February (2020) both in terms of sales and sourcing. Given the duration of the situation in China, the negative impact in other Asian countries and now also the spread to Europe and the US, we unfortunately have to conclude that a short-term normalisation will not occur. The development over the coming weeks and months is impossible to predict and we currently cannot quantify the negative effect this could have on our full-year revenue and earnings," said the German sports equipment brand on 11/03/2020.

"For the full year 2020, we therefore expect currency adjusted sales growth of around 10%. Based on the current exchange rate levels we expect an operating result (EBIT) for the financial year 2020 in a range between €500m and €520m (2019: €440.2m). We also expect a significant improvement of net earnings in 2020," stated Puma upon publication of its financial accounts for the financial year 2019 (see below) on 19/02/2020.

"In China, where most of both owned and…