Nike reported results for the fiscal third quarter of 2012 today. We parsed the press release and listened to the company’s earnings call for insights into its Converse and action sports businesses.
Here’s what we learned:
Overall revenue for the entire company grew by 15% to $5.8 billlion vs. the same quarter last year and earnings per share grew by 11%.
Commentary surrounding the Converse brand and the Action Sports category was sparse but included the following:
· Revenue in the “Other Businesses” category, which includes Cole Haan, Hurley, Nike Golf and Umbro was up 12% to $753 million; revenue grew for each of the brands in this category excluding Cole Haan which was flat; EBIT for the category grew 2%.
· Along with the Nike brand, management repeatedly called out the Converse brand as being one of the strongest drivers of global growth, with revenues up double digits in the quarter and 17% year-to-date; the U.K. and China were sighted as sources of geographic strength for Converse.
· The Action Sports category was the only category in Europe during the quarter not to post year-over-year revenue growth. There was no explanation provided for the lack of growth.
