The US sporting goods supplier Nike Inc. was able to surprisingly increase its sales significantly in the third quarter of the 2022/23 financial year. Although the profit fell well short of the corresponding prior-year level, it was also above market expectations. This emerges from current figures presented by the company on Tuesday evening.
In the period from December to February, the group achieved sales of 12.4 billion US dollars (11.5 billion euros), which corresponded to growth of 14 percent (currency-adjusted +19 percent) compared to the same quarter last year. The core Nike brand contributed the lion’s share, with sales increasing by 14 percent (adjusted for currency effects: +19 percent) to 11.8 billion US dollars.
Strong growth in North America and Europe boosted sales
The label owed the significant increase to strong demand for sneakers (+20 percent) and strong growth in North America and Europe. In North America, its sales increased by 27 percent (+27 percent in constant currency) to $4.91 billion, in the EMEA region, which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it was $3.25 billion and thus 17 percent (currency-adjusted +26 percent) above the corresponding prior-year level.
In Greater China, Nike’s revenue fell 8 percent to $1.99 billion due to the ongoing problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, but increased 1 percent adjusted for exchange rate changes. In the rest of Asia-Pacific and Latin America, sales increased 10 percent (+15 percent at constant currency) to a total of $1.60 billion. The smaller group brand Converse achieved a sales increase of eight percent (currency-adjusted +12 percent) to 612 million US dollars.
Price reductions and cost increases burden the result
As expected, extensive discounts to reduce high inventories and increased product, freight and logistics costs weighed on the result. The reported net profit was 1.24 billion US dollars (1.15 billion euros) by eleven percent below the level of the same quarter last year. However, the analysts had expected an even more significant decline in advance.
In the first nine months of the current financial year, group sales amounted to 38.4 billion US dollars. It grew by eleven percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year (currency-adjusted +19 percent). Net income fell 12 percent to $4.04 billion.