Puma achieve record full-year sales of $7.7billion for 2021

Puma has broken its sales record for 2021 by achieving a land-mark figure of $7.7billion in the entirety of the year. The German company, which was incorporated in 1948, shall complete 74 years in the sportswear industry in 2022. However, its figures last year hold a more resonating importance in the history of the company.

To put things into perspective, they are currently the third largest sportswear manufacturer in the world, behind Nike and Adidas. However, it is now starting to gain ground on both of them, as witnessed by their surge in sales.

Puma achieves nearly 33% increase in sales in 2021 with $.7.7B revenue

Throughout 2021, Puma has garnered terrific business and the early signs of a boom were in the first half-year itself, as they saw a 53% increase in sales and a double digit growth rate in all product divisions and regions.

In fact, the net earnings increased from €-59.1million to €157.8million and the earnings per share went from -€0.40 in the first half of 2020 to €1.06 in the first half of 2021.

But the second half resembled a more sound-earning structure. In Q4 of 2021, they generated $2.01 billion in sales, up 14% compared to the same period the year prior. In total, the shoe manufacturing and sportswear brand made $7.7 billion in sales, which is over 25% by the estimates of Wall Street.

Reasons behind substantial increase in sales

Puma has always leaned on athlete sponsorship deals and their subsequent achievements to promote its brand and garner a global reach for the same.

In September 2020, they had Brazilian soccer star Neymar Jr, sign a $210million deal, which is bound to last 15 years. Before that, the Italian national football team won the UEFA European Championships, with Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Giorgio Chiellini, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker and Jordan Pickford being the five players wearing PUMA’s latest football boots in the final of the tournament.

Additionally, they also joined forces with MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1, as part of its FASTER+ program. This led to them creating the fastest-ever track and field spikes. Furthermore, Puma signed a long-term partnership with Breanna "Stewie" Stewart, the most valuable player in WNBA.

In December 2021, the company also inked a deal with 19-year-old Fort Lauderdale forward Romeo Beckham, son of famous former footballer David Beckham.

In the same month, Chelsea Football Club star Jorginho also penned a contract with the German entity, after he was named the 2021 UEFA Men's Player of the Year.

Its existing athletes also performed admirably in their fields. Karsten Warholm broke the 29-year-old 400m hurdles World Record, wearing the spikes developed in the FASTER+ program. LaMelo Ball also turned out to be the NBA Rookie of the Year.

So Puma is obviously on the precipce of gaining considerable ground on becoming the largest manufacturer of sportswear and shoes world-wide. But they shall be wary that Anta, which is the "Nike of China" also generated record revenue of $3.5 billion for the first six months ending June 30, 2021, up 56% year-over-year. Hence, the competition is heating up.

Regardless, their tagline 'We are Forever Faster' holds true to date and it might not be long before Adidas and Nike are toppled by the Bavarian company.