// Puma has yet to provide a financial outlook for 2020 due to the unpredictable development of Covid-19
// The sportswear retailer focused on ensuring financing and liquidity to survive the crisis
Puma has said uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic made forecasts for the full-year impossible following a hit in second quarter sales and profitability.
Second-quarter sales fell a currency-adjusted 30.7 per cent to €831 million (£754.34 million) and earnings before interest and taxes slumped to a loss of €114.8 million from €80.3 million.
Puma chief executive officer Bjorn Gulden called it the most difficult quarter he had ever experienced.
He said that coronavirus lockdowns meant that 85 per cent of global sports and fashion retail businesses were closed in the second quarter.
The German retailer and brand focused on ensuring financing and liquidity to survive the crisis and banked on more ecommerce although this was not enough to compensate for losses elsewhere.
In May it secured a revolving credit facility of €900 million, including €625 million from state-owned German bank KfW.
The second quarter started with a 55 per cent decline in sales in April and those in May were down 38 per cent.
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