Puma says understated 2012 pretax profit by 10 mln euros

German sportswear maker Puma understated its 2012 pretax profit by at least 10 million euros ($13 million) because of accounting errors, it said on Wednesday. A Puma spokeswoman said the understated profit was a result of different interpretations of IFRS accounting standards by its auditors and the German Accounting Enforcement Panel.

"It does not have any impact on our business. It does not have any impact on our current numbers," she said.

Puma said in a statement it had overstated its provision for restructuring by at least 10 million euros, because it had mistakenly accounted for expenses for future economic activity as liabilities at the balance sheet date.

Those expenses included planned transfer of inventory, double lease costs during a relocation to new office spaces, consulting related to re-engineering logistics and future marketing for three sailing sponsorship contracts.

In 2012, Puma reported a 65 percent drop in earnings before taxes to 112 million euros ($147.2 million), while sales rose 8.7 percent to 3.3 billion.

Puma has been struggling in recent years after losing a reputation for sports performance gear by moving more into the fashion business, slipping further behind the world's biggest sportswear firms Nike and Adidas. ($1 = 0.7607 euro)