Nike posts $790M loss after coronavirus pandemic shuttered stores
Nearly all of Nike's stores were forced to close for 2 months as pandemic worsened
Nike lost $790 million during a fourth quarter in which nearly all of its stores were forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company said in its earnings report Thursday.
Sales fell 38 percent to $6.3 billion during the quarter, falling far short of the $7.3 billion that Wall Street analysts expected, according to Refinitiv data. Nike posted a loss of 51 cents per share. The company reported a profit of $989 million in the same period one year ago.
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“Our fourth quarter results were significantly impacted by physical store closures across North America, EMEA and APLA, where 90 percent of NIKE-owned stores were closed for roughly eight weeks in the quarter to protect the health and safety of teammates and consumers and help slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Nike said in its earnings release. “Our wholesale partners largely followed the same pattern and as a result, product shipments to wholesale customers were down nearly 50 percent resulting in lower total revenue and higher inventory.”
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| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NKE | NIKE INC. | 94.64 | +0.65 | +0.69% |
Nike shares dipped more than 2 percent in after-hours trading on the results.
No-essential businesses in the U.S. and abroad shut down in March as the coronavirus pandemic worsened, bringing the retail industry to a halt. About 90 percent of Nike-owned stores have since reopened for business, the company said.
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Nike accelerated its recent emphasis on e-commerce operations when stores shut down. Digital sales rose 75 percent for the quarter.
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