Donald W. Blair
Analyst · Citi Investment Research
Thanks, Charlie. Before I review our Q4 results and FY '13 guidance, I want to make 3 points that put those details into context: first, that our portfolio of businesses can deliver strong revenue growth even in a volatile environment; second, that we delivered solid profitability for the year despite significant input cost pressures and while continuing to make investments to drive future growth; and third, that while the global economy remains uncertain, we're confident we can improve our profitability and we'll continue to manage our business for a sustainable, profitable growth over the long term. Let's take the first point, the power of our portfolio to drive growth. Mark and Charlie both described FY '12 as the year in which we delivered tremendous revenue growth, fueled by product innovation, brand strength and realignment of the retail landscape, all within the framework of the category offense. We haven't yet reached the full worldwide potential of these strategies and are confident they will fuel our growth in FY '13 and beyond. We don't expect that any component of our portfolio will deliver maximum performance every year. The benefit of our portfolio is its ability to smooth the ups and downs of any one business to deliver consistent growth for NIKE, Inc. We still see enormous opportunity for organic growth from our existing portfolio and believe we're still on track to reach our goal of $28 billion to $30 billion in revenue by FY '15 even after the divestiture of Cole Haan and Umbro. Second point. We delivered solid profitability in fiscal 2012 despite significant input cost headwinds. As we've discussed on previous calls, higher input costs were a significant drag on FY '12 gross margins despite our ongoing product cost reduction initiatives and significant price increases. Nevertheless, we maintained strong top line momentum and leveraged SG&A to deliver 8% EPS growth for the year. The final point. We're confident we can improve our profit margins over time and remain committed to managing our business for sustainable, profitable growth. As Charlie mentioned earlier, we're working to improve gross margin through product cost reduction initiatives such as lean manufacturing, breakthrough innovations like Flyknit, supply chain efficiencies and pricing. Those efforts delivered measurable results in FY '12, although not enough to offset the macroeconomic headwinds in the short term. In addition, we're delivering leverage in our core overhead functions while investing for growth. Some investments continue long-term strategies with a well-established track record of creating value. Some examples are enhancing retail experiences in-store and online, converting Converse license markets to direct distribution and demand creation investments around global sporting events like the Olympics, where we launched product innovations and connect our brands to consumers. Other investments are in breakthrough innovations such as new manufacturing methods like Flyknit and digital products and services like FuelBand. We're convinced that both types of investments will deliver a strong ROI and we'll continue to make them. As we enter FY '13, macroeconomic uncertainty remains high, putting pressure on the near-term profitability of many global companies. But this environment also represents an opportunity for those that have strong competitive positions and the financial strength to invest to create further separation. We recognize that no company is immune to the impact of significant macroeconomic downdrafts, particularly over the course of a few quarters. Our commitment is to use all of the levers under our control to strengthen our business and deliver sustainable, profitable growth over time. With that context, let me provide you a recap of our Q4 results as well as for the full year. Fourth quarter revenue for NIKE, Inc. grew 12%. On a currency-neutral basis, both NIKE, Inc. and the NIKE Brand grew 14%, and our Other Businesses grew 16%. NIKE Brand futures orders advanced 12% on a currency-neutral basis as each geography and key category increased. Running, Basketball, Football and Men's Training led the way, with each growing at a double-digit rate. Both units and average price per unit each contributed 6 points of growth. On a reported basis, futures orders grew 7%, reflecting weaker international currencies, particularly the euro. Fourth quarter diluted EPS declined 6% to $1.17, bringing full year EPS to $4.73, up 8% versus prior year. The Q4 decline was driven by lower gross margin, planned demand creation investments and a higher tax rate, partially offset by the benefits of a lower share count. In addition, our Q4 results included a $24 million restructuring charge to streamline NIKE Brand operations in Western Europe. Compared to last year, gross margin decreased 150 basis points for the quarter and was down 220 basis points for the year. As in previous quarters, higher input costs were the primary drivers of the Q4 decline, though these were partially offset by higher prices, lower airfreight and product cost reduction initiatives. Our Q4 results also reflected accelerated investments in digital R&D as well as an unanticipated customs assessment related to 4 previous fiscal years. These factors reduced our Q4 and full year gross margin by approximately 70 and 20 basis points, respectively. As expected, SG&A growth accelerated in Q4 as higher demand creation investments offset strong operating overhead leverage. Demand creation grew 23% for the quarter, driven by investments in the launch of the NIKE FuelBand and NFL Apparel, as well as marketing for Nike Free, European Championships and the Olympics. Operating overhead grew 6% for the quarter, reflecting mid-teens growth in DTC costs and mid single-digit growth for wholesale and corporate overhead. For the year, SG&A grew 11%, 5 points below the rate of revenue growth. The effective tax rate for FY '12 was 25.5% compared to 25% for fiscal 2011, primarily due to increases in tax reserves, partially offset by a reduction in the effective tax rate on operations outside the U.S. Our capital productivity and balance sheet remains strong as our full year return on invested capital increased 50 basis points to 22.2%, and we held $3.8 billion of cash at year end. Inventory at year end was up 23% versus May 31 last year, continuing the trend of quarterly sequential improvements. NIKE Brand inventories grew 19%, reflecting a 10% increase in units. As we've said previously, we do have more inventory than we'd like in China and Western Europe, but continue to be comfortable with inventory levels in most of our businesses. The majority of the inventory growth is in North America and the Emerging Markets, where revenue growth has been extremely strong and our factory stores have been a very effective and very profitable tool for managing the marketplace. Although our progress in managing down inventory levels has actually been a bit faster than we expected 90 days ago, we still expect the rate of dollar inventory growth to remain above revenue growth through the first half of fiscal 2013. Now let's take a look at our performance by segment, starting with North America. Over the last 2 years, North America revenues have increased over 30%, a testament to the power of the category offense to drive profitable growth. In Q4, North America revenues increased 13% on both a reported and currency-neutral basis, fueled by growth in every key category and led by double-digit growth in Running and Basketball, as well as Men's and Women's Training. For Q4, Footwear revenue increased 14% and Apparel revenue grew 8%, as we continued to see the benefits of realigning the retail marketplace along category lines. Direct to Consumer revenues grew 17% in Q4, as comp store sales increased 13% and online sales grew 27%. For the year, North America DTC passed the $2 billion revenue mark. Q4 EBIT for North America grew 8% as robust revenue growth, gross margin expansion and operating overhead leverage were partially offset by an increase in demand creation. For FY '12, North America EBIT reached $2 billion, up 16% for the year. In Western Europe, Q4 revenues increased 7% on a currency-neutral basis, driven by growth in every territory except Italy. Category revenue growth was led by double-digit increases in Running and Football, more than offsetting a mid-single digit decline in Sportswear. On a reported basis, Q4 revenues for Western Europe grew 2%, but EBIT declined 6% as improved gross margin was more than offset by demand creation investments in the European Championships and the Olympics as well as restructuring costs to streamline the organization. Central and Eastern Europe continued to build momentum in Q4 as revenues increased 20% on a currency-neutral basis, led by double-digit growth in Russia and Poland. All categories except Sportswear and Men's Training grew double digits, led by nearly 50% growth in both Running and Football. On a reported basis, Q4 revenues for CEE grew 12% and EBIT increased 6%. The EBIT improvement was driven primarily by revenue growth, which was partially offset by lower gross margins and demand creation investments in the European Championships. In China, currency-neutral revenue grew 14% in Q4, reflecting strong growth across all territories and categories. For the quarter, Footwear revenue advanced 21%, while Apparel revenue grew 3%. On a reported basis, Q4 revenue for China grew 18% and EBIT increased 9% as higher revenues and higher gross margins were partially offset by SG&A investments in both demand creation and operating overhead. As Charlie explained earlier, both the Chinese economy and our industry are evolving rapidly. In the short term, these changes have resulted in slowing revenues and higher inventory levels across the industry, with some of our competitors reporting significant revenue declines. Our futures orders for China grew 2% in constant currency, a significant slowdown versus last quarter. While we expect revenue growth to moderate in the near term, we remain very enthusiastic about the long-term growth potential in China. The strength of our brands and our deep connection to Chinese consumers position us to continue to lead and grow in this critical market. In Japan, Q4 currency-neutral revenues increased 9% due partially to comparisons to prior-year results that reflected the impact of the tsunami. Performance products, especially Running, continue to drive the growth. On a reported basis, Q4 revenue for Japan increased 11% and EBIT improved by 115%, driven by revenue growth, higher gross margins and SG&A leverage. Our Emerging Markets geography continues to drive strong growth as Q4 revenues grew 23% on a currency-neutral basis. All but one category and 8 of 9 territories posted double-digit revenue growth led by Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Korea. On a reported basis, Q4 revenue for the Emerging Markets grew 16% and EBIT increased 2% as revenue growth was mostly offset by lower gross margins and increased investment in demand creation. Fourth quarter revenues for our Other Businesses increased 16% on both a reported and currency-neutral basis, driven by double-digit growth at Converse, NIKE Golf, Umbro and Cole Haan. EBIT for the Other Businesses increased 35%, driven by higher profits at Converse, NIKE Golf and Cole Haan. On May 31, we announced our intention to divest in Cole Haan and Umbro. While we believe these businesses still have potential for growth and profitability, this decision reflected our confidence in the growth potential of the NIKE Brand and the remaining brands in our portfolio, as well as our commitment to focus our resources on the greatest opportunities for creating shareholder value. For fiscal 2012, these 2 businesses combined accounted for $797 million of revenue and a $43 million loss before interest and taxes. For additional clarity on the impact of these businesses in FY '11 and FY '12, we've provided quarterly P&L details in a new supplemental schedule posted on our website. We're currently in the process of preparing Cole Haan and Umbro for sale and identifying potential buyers. At this stage, we cannot predict the ultimate financial impact of these businesses on FY '13 results for NIKE, Inc. To provide greater visibility to this impact, as well as the results of operations for our ongoing businesses, we intend to separately report the results of Cole Haan and Umbro beginning in the first quarter of fiscal '13. These results will include 4 elements. One, operating results for both businesses. These results are subject to a number of variables, most notably the timing of divestitures and the commercial performance of the businesses. If both businesses were owned for the duration of FY '13, we currently expect they would report a consolidated pretax loss of $50 million to $75 million. Two, costs for executing the transactions and other costs related to the divestitures, if any. Although the total cost for these items is unknown at this time, we have included our estimate for Q1 in the guidance that follows. Three, noncash charges related to the divestiture of Umbro. Upon the sale of the business or when the ultimate selling price becomes estimable, we expect to incur noncash charges to liquidate certain balance sheet accounts, most significantly the cumulative translation adjustment and deferred tax assets related to Umbro. Based on the May 31 balance sheet, we would anticipate a pretax charge of $170 million, or $110 million after tax for the CTA and an after-tax charge of $32 million for the deferred tax assets. And four, the results of these businesses will include gains or losses on sale, which cannot be estimated at this time. For Q1 of FY '13, assuming neither Cole Haan nor Umbro is divested during the quarter, we estimate a consolidated pretax loss from these businesses of approximately $30 million, including costs of preparing for the divestitures. So let me now provide guidance for our ongoing business operations. Just to be clear, this guidance excludes FY '12 and FY '13 results for both Cole Haan and Umbro as well as the FY '13 impact of divesting of those businesses. For our ongoing businesses, we expect FY '13 constant-currency revenue growth at or slightly above our high single-digit target range, in line with the guidance we gave on our last call. However, on a reported basis, we now expect mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth, reflecting the recent erosion of foreign currencies, particularly the euro. For Q1, we expect to report high single-digit revenue growth, reflecting the current momentum of our products and brands as well as strong sales of Olympic and NFL product. For our ongoing businesses, we expect gross margin to improve sequentially in FY '13, but less than previously anticipated due to the impact of significant FX headwinds. We now expect gross margin to decline about 100 basis points in Q1 with sequential improvement each quarter, leading to year-on-year increases in the second half and a slight improvement for the year. We expect full year SG&A for our ongoing businesses to grow faster than revenue at a high single to low double digit rate as we continue to invest in our brands, DTC and innovation, while driving leverage in our core operating overhead. For Q1, we expect operating overhead to grow at a low double-digit rate and demand creation to grow approximately 30% as we use the summer of competition to showcase our product innovation and reinforce our brand connections with consumers. We now expect the FY '13 effective tax rate will be about 26.5%, with the first half of the year roughly 1 point higher. This higher tax rate is due to the shift of earnings mix to higher-taxed countries such as the U.S. In aggregate, we expect our ongoing operations, excluding Cole Haan, Umbro and the associated divestiture impacts, to deliver high single-digit EPS growth in FY '13. This is below our long-term goal of mid-teens EPS growth as a result of the significant negative impact of weaker international currencies on both gross margin and translated foreign earnings, as well as a higher effective tax rate. Our results in FY '12 reflect the power of the NIKE portfolio to drive strong revenue growth. They also demonstrate our ability to deliver solid profitability despite significant macroeconomic headwinds, while still investing in those areas with the strongest potential for future growth. We have tremendous brand strength and a deep pipeline of innovation that will continue to fuel our long-term revenue growth in FY '13 and into the future. We also have the operational and financial discipline to continue to manage the levers within our business to ensure we deliver profitable growth over time. We're now ready to take your questions.