Although four of the five sectors were negative, a strong gain in sneaker profits was able to offset declines elsewhere as industry profits rose 9% overall to $2,934.3 million from $2,682.7 million for the period on a 5% revenue gain to $40,378.7 million from $38,522.4 million. Return on Sales improved to 7.27% from 6.96% in a period that is seasonally relatively small for all sectors except equipment. A positive is that every sector was in the black this quarter, something that has been a bit rarer in recent periods as writedowns and various other one-off events have seemed to hit ... Log in to view full article.