François-Henri Pinault denies Puma is up for sale

François-Henri Pinault, CEO of Kering, has stated to the Financial Times that the group will not sell its Puma subsidiary in the short term. "So far, we have no intention of selling Puma in the short term," he said.

Several analysts believe that a potential sale of the sport outfitter will not take place before 2017 at the earliest, once the company, now experiencing difficulties, recovers. While they estimated that the group's refocusing on luxury goods (Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent) would allow Kering shares to strengthen significantly on the stock market, they underlined that the loss it would have to incur still remains too high.

Kering, when it was still called PPR, acquired a majority stake in Puma in 2007, at a price of €330 per share. On Thursday the share traded at only €205.85 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

After years of decline and loss of market share to its main competitors, Nike and Adidas, the German sports outfitter has started to recover, notably thanks to women's sports footwear, in partnership with singer Rihanna, who was appointed its Creative Director.