Footwear reigns supreme at Nike
Of total revenues of $9.9 billion, footwear accounted for $5.75 billion, with the remainder being made up of apparel ($2.5 billion) and equipment ($1.5 billion). And though footwear sales in the crucial US market were down 1% to $3.2 billion, they nevertheless brought in two-and-a-half times the revenue of apparel (up 4% to $1.3 billion) and more than seven times the revenue of equipment (up 22% to $425 million). A previously announced refocusing on the US market meanwhile showed through during the final quarter in terms of a 1% revenue increase, to $834.7 million.
The contribution made by footwear was reflected in the upbeat assessment of the year by Philip H. Knight, Chairman and CEO: "Our fiscal year 2002 results show that we continue our progress toward becoming the global company we aspire to be. We enjoyed growth across footwear, apparel and equipment in each of our international regions. Equally important, we delivered significant improvement in our USA results by reinvigorating our USA footwear business, reducing inventory, and building a solid foundation in our apparel business. These results, along with margin expansion and expense control, contributed to delivering 14 percent earnings per share growth. Given the challenges of this past year, these results are very gratifying."
