After years of "lacklustre sales growth and plunging profits," Puma's sales in the first nine months of '17 jumped 16%, while its operating margin "almost doubled" to just below 7%. The shares "are up almost a third over a year, twice as much" as adidas. Puma CEO Björn Gulden said, "Our turnaround is a long journey, and it is far from over." The recovery "is entering a new phase as current majority shareholder, French luxury group Kering, sells down its Puma stake." Kering this month announced it will lower its holding from 86.3% to 16% (FINANCIAL TIMES, 1/21).
Liberty Media announced it intends to launch a process to refinance the $3.3B first lien term loan of certain subsidiaries of Delta Topco Ltd., the Liberty subsidiary which holds all of its interests in Formula 1. Concurrent with the refinancing, the relevant subsidiaries of Delta Topco intend to repay up to $400M of the first lien term loan using a combination of excess cash on the balance sheet and loans under the first lien involving credit facility, subject to obtaining necessary consents and funding of the relevant loans (Liberty Media).
