The dumping of Nike shares has intensified after the world's largest manufacturer of sports footwear announced the resignation of its financial chief.

The company, which has seen profits collapse during the Asian economic crisis, said 50-year-old Robert Falcone had resigned after six years to "pursue other opportunities".

Controller Robert Harold, 50, will stand in at Nike's headquarters at Beaverton, Oregon, until a permanent successor to Mr Falcone is appointed.

Nike reported second-quarter earnings three weeks ago that fell well short of Wall Street expectations of 34 pence (55 cents) a share.

Asian crisis hits sales

The company earned £87m ($141m), or just 30 pence (48 cents) a share, in the three months ending November 30. This compared with profits of £110m ($177m), or 37 pence (60 cents) a share, during the same period in 1996.

The weak performance led some analysts to suspect Mr Falcone had been pressured to leave, although there was no clear indication that was the case.

"The timing implies he may have left for more than just personal reasons," said Dain Bosworth analyst Diane Daggatt.

Nike had an £867m ($1.4bn) inventory at the quarter's end and said slashing prices hurt earnings. Asia's economic slowdown caused orders for goods to be delivered from December to April to fall 1% to £2.73bn ($4.4bn).

The company said the continuing crisis would hurt its sales this year.

The company's stock, which touched £47.37 ($76.38) last February, slumped to £23.45 ($37.81) on December 19 after the lower-than-expected results. The shares have perked up since then but fell £1.67 ($2.69) to £24.50 ($39.50) on Friday January 9.

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