EARNINGS AND THE ECONOMY-Executives give mixed outlook

LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - Company executives in Europe and Asia gave mixed outlooks for 2009 when reporting earnings and at various events on Friday.

Following is a compilation of their comments:

"I don't say green shoots (are emerging). I say the decline has slowed and maybe abated, but you never know," said Philip Clarke, head of international business at Tesco (TSCO.L: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's third-biggest retailer.

"I think now it's bottomed, but it's not showing any signs of recovery yet."

"In my opinion, the rate of growth, the rate of opportunity (for retailers), putting us back to where we were in 2007, won't happen up until 2012," said Vittorio Radice, chief executive of Italian department store group La Rinascente.

"We plan for business to remain challenging in 2009 and have therefore decided to implement further measures to align our cost structure with the current market environment, ensuring a platform for profitable growth in the future," said Jochen Zeitz, chief executive of Puma (PUMG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's third-biggest sporting goods group.