The recently weakening sporting goods giant Nike is on the road to recovery with new boss Elliott Hill. In the last quarter, Adidas’ rival exceeded analysts’ expectations – even though sales and profits once again fell significantly year-on-year.
In the second quarter, which ended at the end of November, revenue fell by 8 percent year-on-year to 12.35 billion US dollars (11.9 billion euros), as Nike announced on Thursday after the US stock market closed. However, analysts’ expectations were somewhat lower at an average of $12.1 billion. Profit fell 26 percent to $1.16 billion. The share temporarily rose by around 8 percent in after-hours US trading.
In October, former top executive Elliott Hill returned to Nike from retirement and took the top job. His predecessor John Donahoe’s strategy included relying more on direct sales. The downside, however, was that the shelf space Nike gave up in stores was filled with products from competitors. As a result, the rivals were noticed more by consumers. (dpa)