Sports producer Nike reported fiscal 2023 financial results for its third quarter ended February 28, with revenues up 14 percent compared to the prior year to $12.4 billion, bases on higher selling prices.

Revenues for the NIKE Brand were $11.8 billion, up 14 percent, with double-digit growth in North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Greater China grew 1 percent despite a challenging December following the shift in the country’s COVID-19 policies. On a reported basis, revenues for Greater China declined 8 percent.

Revenues for Converse were $612 million, up 8 percent, led by double-digit growth across all channels in North America, partially offset by declines in Asia.

Gross margin decreased 330 basis points to 43.3 percent, primarily due to higher markdowns to liquidate inventory, continued unfavorable changes in net foreign currency exchange rates and higher product input costs and elevated freight and logistics costs, partially offset by strategic pricing actions.

Selling and administrative expense increased 15 percent to $4.0 billion. Demand creation expense was $0.9 billion, up 8 percent, primarily due to advertising and marketing.

Operating overhead expense increased 17 percent to $3.0 billion, primarily due to wagerelated expenses and NIKE Direct variable costs.

Net income was $1.2 billion, down 11 percent compared to prior year, and Diluted earnings per share was $0.79, decreasing 9 percent, which led to the decrease of the share price by almost 4% after publication.

NIKE returned approximately $2.0 billion to shareholders in the previous quarter, including dividends of $528 million, up 9 percent from the prior year, share repurchases of $1.5 billion, reflecting 12.9 million retired shares as part of the four-year, $18 billion program approved by the Board of Directors in June 2022.

As of February 28, 2023, a total of 32.0 million shares have been repurchased under the program for a total of approximately $3.4 billion.