The Sportlifestyle company PUMA AG today announces that it has decided to set up a 100% subsidiary in India. PUMA's current licensee in India, Planet Sports, will continue to operate the business until PUMA is fully operative in January of 2006. After that Planet Sports will become a PUMA customer as well as a PUMA retail partner with the goal to jointly develop the retail infrastructure on a non-exclusive basis.
In addition PUMA is in the process of setting up a fully owned subsidiary in the Middle East, located in Dubai, which will serve as a hub coordinating our efforts across the region. PUMA Middle East should be operative and consolidating sales as of January of next year for most countries in the region.
Jochen Zeitz, CEO and Chairman of PUMA AG: "We see significant potential for PUMA in India in the long run which we intend to fully explore in the early years of the market's development. We thank Planet Sports for their work as a licensee for PUMA and look forward to jointly enhancing our retail structure with them in the future. Our new Middle East Hub will provide us with a platform to better coordinate as well as grow our business in the entire Middle East region.
