Puma cuts profit targets in face of strong dollar

Puma, the German maker of sportswear and equipment, downgraded Wednesday its profit targets for the full year in face of the strong dollar.

"The continued adverse developments of foreign exchange rates during the recent months, particularly the strengthening of the US dollar versus nearly all other currencies, had a significant negative impact on Puma's gross profit margin and operating result in the first quarter of 2015," the company said in a statement.

In the period from January to March, net profit fell by 30 percent to 24.8 million euros ($28 million). Underlying or operating profit tumbled 36 percent to 37.5 million euros, but sales grew by 13.2 percent to 821.4 million euros.

Looking ahead, Puma said it was still pencilling in an increase in full-year sales of around 5.0 percent.

But instead of a slight increase in profits, the group now expected operating profit to decline from 128 million euros last year to 80-100 million euros this year. And the target for net profit was downgraded to mirror that, as well, Puma said.