Asos, a pandemic winner, to repay furlough cash

A minority of fashion companies saw sales surge during the lockdown period, including Asos, which posted stronger than expected results for the four months to June 30.

The online retail giant said it would pay back the funds it claimed from the government for furloughing its staff after sales increased.

Asos group sales increased by 10 percent to 1bn pounds during the period, with UK sales falling 1 percent. International sales were up 17 percent to 654 million pounds verses the drop in UK sales to 329 million pounds.

In its trading update, Asos said that it would be returning cash it received under the government’s furlough scheme after a “better than initially-expected full-year performance”.

“This has been a tough time for all businesses, but we have remained focused on doing the right thing for our people,” Asos boss Nick Beighton said. “While we remain cautious about the consumer impact of Covid-19 looking forward, we are on track to deliver strong year-on-year profit growth.”

Asos did not publish how many workers it had furloughed under the government’s job retention scheme, where the government pays 80 percent of workers’ salaries up to 2,500 pounds per month, or the cost.

Image via Asos