I Coast was bad if yuh watch it close it have the elephant watermarked on it. Something like he we wanted Kitchener watermark on we own.
Holland white kit was real bad.
Brasil kit fail somewhere along the line.
Ukraine full kit was the baddest that yellow with the blue lines that does match up when yuh tuck it in was bad, it was lotto.
Nike's World Cup sponsorship strategy sails wide
ALEX DOBROTA
As France's forward Thierry Henry drove the soccer ball past goalkeeper Dida this weekend, the tall forward dashed more than Brazil's hopes for a sixth World Cup title.
He also frustrated Nike Inc.'s bets on the storied South American team.
The Beaverton, Ore.-based company invested heavily in the World Cup tournament, sponsoring six of the 32 participating teams, including Brazil. This strategy held promise to improve Nike's lacklustre performance in Europe, where the tournament is being held, but has backfired, analysts say, although Portugal -- another team it is sponsoring -- remains in the tournament.
And Brazil's early exit is only the latest in a string of reversals for the world's largest shoe maker.
Last week, Nike said profit for its fourth quarter dropped 5 per cent to $332.8-million (U.S.), or $1.27 a share, from $349.5-million or $1.30 for the same period last year. Its shares fell $3.09, or 3.7 per cent, to $80.54 per cent last Wednesday, the day of the announcement. Nike shares rose 33 cents and closed at $81.33 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, leaving the stock with a decline of 6 per cent so far this year.
Quarterly sales margins narrowed to 43.8 per cent from 45.2 per cent as the company absorbed an increase in oil prices.
"We set prices in advance, so when you have price increases for oil or labour, it starts to move into our cost structure over time," Don Blair, Nike's chief financial officer, said during a conference call with analysts last week.
Given the setbacks, France's resounding defeat over Brazil on Saturday added insult to injury, as Les Bleus were wearing the stripes of Nike's archrival adidas AG.
The Bavaria-based shoe maker, which designed the soccer ball and will be the official sponsor of the 2010 World Cup, is also benefiting from Germany's and France's ascension to the semifinals. Both teams are sporting the adidas logo.
"As the tournament progressed, adidas had the better picks," said analyst Christian Nagstrup of Denmark-based Jyske Bank.
According to the Financial Times, Nike is paying Brazil $13-million a year to wear the swoosh logo on its jerseys. "It's many people's views that perhaps it didn't pay off," Mr. Nagstrup said.
The analyst said Nike's setbacks at the World Cup will hurt the shoe maker in the long run.
Last week, Mr. Nagstrup downgraded his "buy" rating to an "accumulate" rating, slashing his 12-month target price from $100 to $87.
He said he expected Nike sales in Europe to be dogged by the strong performance of Puma AG and adidas.
The company's sales rose to $15-billion, from $13.7-billion for the fiscal year. While Nike's future international orders increased 5 per cent to $6.6-billion for deliveries between June and November, future orders for Europe increased by only 1 per cent.
These results were dampened by the announcement that inventory levels have increased by 15 per cent this year, significantly more than the company's future orders.
This is because, customers in Europe and Japan are increasingly gravitating toward the leaner, more tapered and less expensive running shoes manufactured by Puma and adidas, said Christopher Svezia at New-York based Susquehanna Financial Group LLP. In turn, Nike's higher-end sneakers are losing traction, Mr. Svezia added.
The company might have to resort to discounts, which could make a dent in its bottom line, Mr. Svezia said.
The company "was caught off guard by how strong this kind of fusion, European style was," Mr. Svezia said, adding that the swoosh is "out of favour in Japan, out of favour in Europe."
In a report released last week, Mr. Svezia rated the company's stock as "neutral" with a 12-month target price of $83.63. However, he remains confident in Nike's future.
"I think they will at some point in time get their issues fixed," he said. "Nike has phenomenal financials, . . . it's still a good business and a great brand."
Booted
Nike invested heavily in the World Cup tournament, spending millions of dollars to sponsor six of the 32 teams, including Brazil, and now that nation's early exit has become the latest in a series of setbacks for the world's largest athletic shoemaker.
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