(c) 2009 
Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.Nike Inc. said fiscal fourth-quarter profit dropped 30% due to $195 million in restructuring charges, as revenue and margins slid and future orders dropped across all regions.
The sportswear market has begun to soften amid larger declines in the retail sector, leading the world's largest sportswear company to trim its operations and cut 5% of its work force.
Despite the woes, Nike's athletic footwear trend has remained fairly healthy over the last few months, and the Beaverton, Ore., company's brands have continued to take market share, according to Robert W. Baird & Co.
For the quarter ended May 31, Nike reported earnings of $341.4 million, or 70 cents a share, down from $490.5 million, or 98 cents a share, a year earlier.
The latest results included the previously disclosed restructuring charges, while the prior-year quarter's results included a $32 million gain from Nike's sale of Bauer Hockey.
Excluding those items, earnings rose to 99 cents a share from 94 cents.
Revenue decreased 7.4% to $4.71 billion. Excluding changes in currency rates, revenue would have been flat from a year ago, the company said. The recent decrease in the value of the dollar is expected to help Nike's results in the near term, although its hedging strategy minimizes the effects of currency fluctuations.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share earnings of 96 cents a share on revenue of $4.72 billion.
Sales at Nike's subsidiaries, which include Converse, Cole Haan and Hurley, dropped 5% to $702.3 million.
Revenue was flat in Asia Pacific, but fell 3% in the Americas and slumped 19% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
U.S. revenue fell 2% to $1.6 billion, as U.S. athletic footwear sales increased 2% but U.S. apparel sales declined 15%.
Nike's future orders, an indicator of growth based on estimates of product orders, decreased 12% to $7.8 billion for the period from June through November. Excluding the effect of currency exchange rates, orders dropped 5%.
Last month, rival Adidas AG reported its first-quarter profit dropped 97% on a tough comparison with a year-ago and high costs and said it would accelerate its restructuring initiatives.
Nike shares were down $2.34 in late trading after closing off 52 cents at $53.02 in 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange trading.
Credit: By John Kell
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