Nike shares rallied in after-hours trading on growing investor confidence that its turnaround plan finally seemed to be paying off, despite reporting its worst quarterly earnings in more than three years.
In a call with analysts, Nike’s chief executive Elliott Hill, who returned from retirement last year to take the top job, outlined initiatives including reorganising to focus on developing product lines for crucial sports. Shares rallied as he and chief financial officer Matthew Friend spoke, rising more than 10 per cent in after-hours trading.
Friend said the disappointing results “reflected the largest impact” from the company’s turnaround programme, adding that Nike expected “the headwinds to moderate from here”.