Frankfurt  - German sports goods-to-fashion group Puma AG reported Thursday a modest rise in second-quarter earnings ahead of this week's opening of the Beijing Olympics.

Puma said net profit rose to 45.6 million euros (70.5 million dollars) compared to 45.2 million euros in the same quarter last year on the back of strong sales growth in the world's leading emerging economies in Asia and the Middle East.

Analysts had predicted that spending resulting from the European football championships and tough market conditions in the US would have undercut Puma's second-quarter earnings.

Based in the small Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, Puma confirmed its sales outlook for the year after second-quarter revenue rose 6.3 per cent to 576.8 million euros.

However, Puma chief Jochen Zeitz warned about the risks facing the company.

"In these current volatile market circumstances it is difficult to predict the effect on profitability in 2008," he said. (dpa)