Quarterly revenue at Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) came in at $11.2 billion, a figure that fell 4% on a reported basis and 5% when currency fluctuations are stripped out. A 60-basis-point lift in gross margin brought the year-over-year figure to 42.8%, with tighter control over supply chain expenditure and currency tailwinds offsetting the drag from wider promotional discounting. Selling, general, and administrative expenses came in 3% lower on a reported basis.
At $0.48 per share, the company's quarterly profit figure landed two percent below where it stood a year earlier. At the close of the quarter, Nike held a net cash position built on $8.4 billion across cash and short-term investments, carrying debt at around two times that base. Dividend payments to shareholders totalled around $610 million over the course of that quarter.
A two-percent uptick in North America revenue traced back to strength across running, global football, and basketball — the performance categories carrying the most momentum. Sales across the EMEA region came in 5% below the prior period. Income from the APLA segment held steady, showing no meaningful movement in either direction. Sales across the Greater China region fell by 26% amid what the company described as a marketplace realignment, with downward pressure on revenue anticipated to persist through the remainder of the current fiscal year and into fiscal 2028.
Revenue across the Nike Performance portfolio moved into high-single-digit territory, with upticks recorded in running, football, training, basketball, tennis, and golf categories alike. Sales within the Nike Sportswear category fell by a low double-digit percentage during the quarter, accounting for roughly half of the period's total revenue. Sales tied to the Jordan Brand label slipped by a mid-teens percentage, placing that division at roughly 13% of overall worldwide revenue.
Across football, running, training, basketball, tennis, and golf, Nike Performance posted high-single-digit gains in the first quarter, Hill noted, with that momentum layered on top of mid-single-digit expansion that brought the performance division to $16 billion in fiscal year 2026 — a trajectory he attributed to the Sport Offense strategy taking hold. Nike's ongoing effort to reposition itself as a higher-end, culturally attuned label in China was among the points Hill addressed, with the company now operating in its 45th year and treating that market as a continued priority.
Four strategic shifts are underway at Nike: low-performing online distribution channels have been wound down, digital storefronts are being consolidated around a smaller number of flagship properties, partnerships with physical retail outlets are receiving greater investment, and locally developed product lines are being brought to market — with a collection tailored specifically for China set to arrive in October. Demand for the After Dark Tour illustrated the momentum behind running in China, with close to 4,000 participants filling available spots on the opening day of registration — a result that extended the sport's unbroken stretch of quarterly expansion to six consecutive periods.
The financial outlook presented by CFO Dave Denton drew on a thorough bottom-up review of both business operations and financial planning, with the resulting projections tested against ongoing market trends. Revenue headwinds across the remainder of the year were flagged by Denton as a mounting concern for China's earnings outlook.
Nike's long-running commercial relationship with Kylian Mbappé — one that took root more than two decades ago — has come to an end, the sportswear brand confirmed. On the basketball side, Nike pointed to three product lines — the Caitlin One, the Shea Shu, and the GT Series — with the Caitlin One rollout reaching roughly 5,000 retail doors and drawing notably strong sell-through, a scope the company described as the broadest women's signature debut on record. Revenue tied to women's basketball has expanded by more than 600% over a recent stretch, while the broader North American basketball segment posted gains during the quarter.
A multi-year overhaul plan, branded the Pace program, was put in motion by Nike to reshape its operations. Projected savings of roughly $2.5 billion sit alongside an estimated $1 billion in rollout costs spread across the programme's lifespan, with a further $300 million earmarked for severance payments falling due in the 2026 fiscal year. Among the planned changes: reshaping the supply chain toward greater agility and lower costs, opening a new capability hub in Bengaluru, India, collapsing four regional divisions down to three — Americas, APGC, and EMEA — and trimming the number of management layers between leadership and frontline operations.
Supply chain gains tied to the Pace initiative have begun flowing through to gross margin in the first quarter, with the bulk of cost reductions projected to land across fiscal 2029 and 2030, Denton noted. Revenue at Nike was projected to fall somewhere in the high single-digit percentage range when the company set out its outlook for fiscal year 2027. Profit at the operating level is forecast to compress at a steeper rate than the top-line revenue contraction. For fiscal 2027, the adjusted earnings-per-share outlook lands in a range of $1.15 to $1.35, with that figure set aside from roughly $0.15 in costs tied to the Pace Program.
A roughly 400-basis-point drag on revenue is anticipated for the second quarter, stemming from an unfavourable comparison against the prior year's Cyber Week sell-in volumes across European and North American markets. Protecting and eventually expanding the dividend stood out as the foremost use of capital, Denton indicated, adding that Nike's financial position across every foreseeable scenario provides a foundation for sustaining that commitment over the long run. At its November Investor Day, Nike is set to lay out a five-year financial roadmap addressing both revenue growth and profitability targets.
