Investors bought Adidas and Puma on Thursday. With price gains of 4.1 and 6.9 percent, the shares of the two sports goods manufacturers topped the list of winners in the Dax and MDax respectively.
A transaction by British billionaire and investor Michael Ashley provided momentum at Puma. Specifically, it involves the sale of financial instruments (so-called short puts), which represent around 5.6 percent of the voting rights to Puma when they mature. This emerges from a voting rights notification.
Since December, the shares have been hovering around the 23 euro mark, sometimes with strong swings in both directions.
By selling these put options, Ashley gives buyers the right to sell Puma shares to him if Puma shares fall below a set price threshold. In return, as the so-called writer in the transaction, he receives an option premium in advance.
Ashley is apparently betting that the Puma shares will at least not lose too much in value or even increase. According to a stockbroker, he could also speculate on getting what he sees as a favorable entry into Puma – if the price falls below the agreed put threshold. Ashley is currently allocated 0.17 percent of Puma through other financial instruments.
Ashley’s Frasers Group is also known as an activist investor, so it also wants to have a say in companies. The Frasers Group holds around 25 percent of the Hugo Boss fashion group.
Guilder takes advantage of price slide
Meanwhile, Adidas boss Björn Gulden took advantage of the price slide of the past few days, which had brought the shares to a low since the beginning of 2023, to buy. According to a voting rights announcement, Gulden acquired Adidas titles for a good 500,000 euros on Thursday.
Several analysts lowered their price targets after Adidas’ financial figures published midweek, but remained well above the current price level. UBS expert Robert Krankowski pointed out that management had described the start to the current year as good in the conference call. Adam Cochrane from Deutsche Bank Research gave Adidas an attractive valuation based on its profit prospects.
