Japan retailing sector: Results at overseas retailers

Research evidence excerpt

Japan retailing sector: Results at overseas retailers

Japan retailing sector: Results at overseas Global Markets Research

retailers 1 July 2026

EQUITY: JAPAN RETAILING

Research Analysts

Nike’s 26/5 Q4 (Mar–May) results Japan retailing

Shintaro Umeda - NSC

Nike is expected to continue restructuring measures, including inventory shintaro.umeda@nomura.com

reduction; we expect Asics' brand strength to remain intact +81 3 6703 1741

Hisahiro Yamaoka - NSC

Nike’s 26/5 4Q results hisahiro.yamaoka@nomura.com

Nike announced its 26/5 Q4 (Mar–May) results at 5:15 JST on 1 July and held a results +81 3 6703 1680

briefing at 6:00 JST the same day. Q4 sales declined 1% y-y to $10.97bn (down 4% on a

currency-neutral basis), above the 1 July Bloomberg consensus of $10.84bn. Gross

margin improved 8.9ppt y-y to 49.2% and EBIT increased 4.2x y-y to $1.33bn. Gross

profits were also boosted by approximately $990m (roughly 9.0ppt of gross margin) owing

to expected US tariff refunds under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Nike aims to reduce excess inventory and shift away from discounting while focusing on

rebuilding relationships with wholesalers. The company has made more progress in

inventory normalization in North America than in other regions, and sales to major

wholesale customer Foot Locker appear to have turned upward for the first time in four

years. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), weak sportswear market

conditions, sluggish store traffic, and turmoil in the Middle East have weighed down

results and end-26/5 inventory appears to have increased by low double digits y-y. In

Greater China, the company continues to make progress in reducing excess inventory,

but restructuring is expected to take some time. The company is also continuing inventory