Asos shares up 20% after 3Q's GBP150.56 million

Asos rose the most in eight years in London trading after

posting sales increased by 46% during the third-quarter, fuelled by international growth. Meanwhile, consumer confidence in the UK fell in December, a survey showed Thursday.

According to data compiled by Nationwide Building Society, the UK consumer confidence index fell to 38 in December from 40 in November. This was the second lowest score in the survey history, they stressed.

However, Asos managed to break a 8-year trading record by surging 20.4% to 1,797 pence per share after the company said third quarter group revenues rose 45% to £150.56 million from £104.13 million last year.

Revenue in the three months ended Dec. 31 rose to 146.5 million pounds ($226 million) from 100 million pounds a year earlier, the London-based company said Thursday. International sales surged 93%, helping shares up by 18 percent.  “With the business continuing to perform well through these challenging economic times, we remain confident about the outlook and expect our full-year results to be in line with market expectations,” Chief Executive Officer Nick Robertson said in a statement.

Asos closed at 1,760 pence in London, the highest since Sept. 15. The percentage gain was the biggest since March 2004.  Despite Asos not revealing its market expectations, analysts expect the firm to post a fiscal 2012 pretax profit of GBP40.0 million on revenue of GBP510.4 million, as reported by FactSet,  

Also Associated British Foods Plc (parent company for Primark) rose 1.2% to 1,151 pence after the food retailer said its revenues for the 16 weeks ended January 7 increased 12%. The ABF group described the performance of Primark’s 232 stores across Europe, including 156 in the UK, as “exceptional”, reporting strong increase in sales for the 16 weeks to January 7. The group said like-for-like growth at Primark had also been “good”, helped by particularly strong trading over Christmas, but did not give an exact figure.