Puma delivers record sales

Puma, the sporting footwear company, has sprinted to its "best ever" first-quarter results and even grew sales in Japan, despite the tsunami disaster. The brand, which is owned by the French luxury group PPR, grew its sales by 9.3 per cent to €773m (£686m). This helped its operating profits edge up to €111m.

Puma's chief executive, Jochen Zeitz, said: "We were even able to mitigate the negative impact we saw from the disastrous events in Japan last month."