Was it unethical of Nick to lie to the president of the company regarding this situation?

Nick Brown is the chief accountant for the Northeast district office of Bryant's Furniture Industries Inc. While preparing the fourth-quarter sales report, Nick overheard the company president say that he would close Bryant's Portland office if it did not meet its fourth-quarter sales quota. Nick’s best friend from college is the manager at the Portland office. Anxious to find out whether the office was in jeopardy, Nick immediately finished the Portland office’s report, only to find that it showed sales 25 percent below the quota. Later that afternoon, the company president called Nick for Portland’s sales result. Nick told the president that he had not finished preparing the sales report for the Portland office. Nick wanted time to compile data that might convince the president to continue operations in Portland, despite lagging sales.