Asos four-month retail sales up 38 percent

REPORT_ Asos has released its trading statement for the four months ended December 31, 2013. Retail

sales were up 38 percent year-on-year. International retail sales were 60 percent of total. There were 7.9 million active customers at December 31, 2013, which is a 41 percent rise year-on-year. The retail gross margin also increased, by 90 bps, reflecting tighter stock control.

Nick Robertson, CEO, commented: “We have enjoyed another strong Christmas and made a good start to the financial year. Retail sales in the UK were particularly strong at 37 percent, and internationally sales grew by 38 percent with a notable performance from the EU segment at 69 percent. These results were driven by significant improvements to our customer proposition, including better delivery options, additional payment methods and the roll out of our premier service in key international markets. Work on significantly increasing the capacity of our Barnsley site continues and we plan to open our central European distribution centre later this year. The business continues to trade in line with expectations.”