Nike profits soar 60% on overseas sales

Sportswear company Nike has reported a 60 per cent rise in quarterly profit after it repaired ties with its main US distributor…

Sportswear company Nike has reported a 60 per cent rise in quarterly profit after it repaired ties with its main US distributor and saw strong gains from overseas.

Nike posted a net profit of $200 million, and revenue rose 21 per cent to $2.9 billion.

Mr Mark Parker, Nike's brand president, said the company was selling more of its $100-plus performance footwear, a trend that the rest of the US footwear was seeing as well.

The results also reflected Nike's progress in resolving its long-running dispute with its main distributor, Foot Locker, over pricing and promotion.

READ MORE

The dispute, which began in 2002, had kept high-end Nike shoes off shelves of the United States' biggest sneaker chain, leading Nike to lose sales and market share to arch-rival Reebok.

Nike also said that future orders for its athletic footwear and apparel in the current quarter grew to $4.7 billion, 10 per cent higher from a year earlier.

"Growing consumer demand for Nike footwear and apparel in our international markets helped drive the 9.9 per cent increase in worldwide futures," Nike chief executive Mr Phil Knight said in a statement.

Much of that rise was also due to favorable exchange rates, as a weaker US currency helped boost earnings translated into dollars.