ASOS six months ended Feb 28 retail sales boost 34%

03 Apr '14

2 min read

Global Online Fashion Destination, ASOS plc announces Interim results for the six months ended 28 February 2014.

Highlights

-Retail sales up 34% (UK retail sales up 32%, international retail sales up 35%)

-8.2 million active customers at 28 February 2014, up 36% on prior year

-Retail gross margin up 60bps

-Accelerated investment in IT and warehousing; full year capex of £68m

-Profit before tax of £20.1m (2013: £25.7m)

Nick Robertson, CEO, commented, “I am pleased to report another strong trading performance for the six month period, with retail sales up £120m to £472.3m, a 60bps expansion of retail gross margin and growth of 36% in our active customer base to 8.2m. Customer engagement remains high with growth in visits, conversion and average basket value. We are now investing in the capacity to support a truly global business with sales of £2.5 billion as the next staging post on our journey.

This continued strong growth was achieved at the same time as acceleration in our investment in logistics, our IT platform and our overall customer offering, whilst also continuing to invest in our China start-up. Our £68 million investment during the current year will more than double the sales capacity with greatly enhanced efficiencies at our UK warehouse, a new Eurohub in Berlin, an expanded facility in Ohio in the US and a new warehouse in Shanghai.

This increased pace of investment has reduced our profitability in the period, but will deliver significantly increased capacity as well as efficiencies in the longer term. ASOS is not and has never been about the short-term; the scale of the global opportunity remains as exciting as ever and we are investing for the many opportunities ahead.”

ASOS plc

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