German sportswear company Puma, majority owned by the French group PPR, posted Tuesday a first quarter net profit of 77.7 million euros ($113.2 million), for an annualised gain of 7.1 percent.

Puma headquarters in Germany

Puma sales, once corrected for foreign exchange effects, gained 13.2 percent to 773 million euros, a statement said.

Chief executive Jochen Zeitz said Puma was "able to mitigate the negative impact we saw from the disastrous events in Japan last month as our Asian/ Pacific region contributed with an increase in sales."

Puma shoes

The company reiterated its 2011 forecast for a sales gain of between five to 10 percent, which would bring them close to three billion euros.

Puma hopes to achieve four billion euros in annual sales by 2015.