Nike's strong second-quarter earnings growth rose 4.5%

In the three months to Nov. 30, Nike announced that its profit climbed 46% to $261.90 million, or 97 cents a share; the company's profit for the same period last year was $177.1 million. That is, 66 cents per share.

Nike’s quarterly revenue climbed 11%, climbing from $2.84 billion in the same period last year to $3.15 billion. The market expects earnings of 86 cents per share, and sales are expected to be 3.110 billion.

Phil Knight, chief executive of the company, said in a statement, “We have strong business growth in the United States and in emerging market countries such as China, Russia and Turkey, and the euro’s exchange rate has also shown a positive trend. As a result, revenue has risen."

In addition, Nike also announced its global futures order for sports shoes and apparel products from December 2004 to April 2005 - a key indicator for measuring the health of the business in the apparel industry - a 9.1% increase over the same period last year. . Industry watchers believe that Nike has further established its global brand.

John Shanley, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group, believes, “We believe that US consumers’ interest in performance/tech sports footwear products has been fully updated. In the fall shopping season, the market for Nike footwear in 2004 The demand for products continues to rise, especially in the retail channels of professional sports products."

However, Xue Li also pointed out that with the rapid expansion of Nike's global scope, the company's dependence on the global market will also increase significantly, which may increase its future risk.

Xue Li pointed out that "Nike currently has more than half of its sales from international markets, including Asia, Europe and South America. The brand will be affected by various economic and political events, which will also affect Nike's growth prospects."

Nike shares climbed 5 cents Thursday to $89.50. After Thursday's close, its share price climbed 3.84 US dollars to 89.74 US dollars, or 4.5%.

Knight searches for new CEO candidates

Phil Knight, the chief executive of the company, explained the reasons for his resignation as chief executive at the analyst meeting, but he will still serve as chairman of the company. Knight is one of the founders of Nike.

Knight said, “As I said to my employees, the last thing I would like to see is the decline in corporate profits and the poor health of the company. I recently passed the latest round of medical examinations, and corporate profits are also As people's lives are limited, so it's time for me to look for successors."

As for why he decided to look for CEO candidates outside of Nike, Knight explained that as the company's business expands globally, new CEOs are more likely to be created externally.

In November of this year, Phil Knight said that he will resign from his chief executive position on December 28 and replace him with William Perez, former president and CEO of SC Johnson & Son Corporation. SC Johnson & Son was founded in 1996 as a private, private company.

Phil Knight said, "If this is only a Nike brand problem, we will not look outside the company for CEO candidates. In the next five years, other brands than Nike - this is not forecast or anticipate - - It will account for about 25% of our total shipments. The company's future operating conditions will be more complicated than it currently is."

Given the brand and product expansion plans that Nike will achieve in the future, Phil Knight suggests that it is particularly important to hire CEOs who have experience managing multiple brands and product categories.

Perry may not have the charisma of Phil Knight. He served as the CEO for the last 8 years of SC Johnson's 34-year career. He has experience in managing a multi-billion dollar consumer product business worldwide, and his product sales are based entirely on strong brand recognition.

SC Johnson mainly produces well-known household product brand products such as Radid insecticide, Drano dry cleaning agent, Windex glass cleaner and Ziploc plastic bags. The company’s 2004 fiscal year sales were $6.5 billion.

Phil Knight said that Perey is expected to visit New York in March to meet Nike analysts and shareholders.