Puma: Q3-26 preview - sequential improvement

Ahead of Puma's Q3 results, due on the 30th October, we update on key themes and our thoughts. We expect sequential improvements in Puma's performance in Q3 (vs. Q2) as the health of Puma's inventory gets better through the year and markdowns come down. The slight area for caution would be consumer sentiment deteriorating, particularly in Europe. Meanwhile, there is some more work to be done in the US in terms of inventory with retail partners, and last year's comps still include mass merchant sales. We expect performance in APAC to remain strong. As a result we soften our CC sales growth expectations for the quarter by c.-150bps. Vs. consensus, we are generally more positive across the board as we expect continued strong momentum in the turnaround and think that improvements in brand perception are feeding through. For EMEA, we sit c.+100bps ahead on CC sales growth, c.-90bps behind on the US, and c.+420bps ahead on APAC, leading us to be c.+85bps ahead at a Group level. For margins,