UPDATE 2-ASOS says trading robust as profit doubles

Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:52am EDT
 
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* Full-year pretax profit 14.1 mln stg vs f'cst 14.2 mln stg

* 13 weeks to June 26 sales up 52 pct

* Confident of another year of strong progress

* Says main market listing likely within 2 years

* Shares down 4 pct at 0733 GMT

(Adds detail, CEO, analyst comments, shares)

By James Davey

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - British Internet fashion retailer ASOS Plc (ASOS.L) posted an expected 93 percent rise in year profit and said current trading was robust, boosted by strong demand for jumpsuits, boyfriend blazers and marble wash denim.

The group, whose ASOS.com website targets internet-savvy 18 to 34 year olds looking to emulate the designer looks of celebrities such as Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham but at a fraction of the price, said sales increased 52 percent year on year in the 13 weeks to June 26.

Chief Executive Nick Robertson said that although this represented a slowdown from growth of 104 percent for the year to March 31 it was still "an exceptional performance, given the current economic climate".

He was relaxed about recent data for the UK online retail industry showing a significant slowdown in sales growth.

The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index showed online retail sales rose 8.2 percent in May on the same month last year to around 3.7 billion pounds ($6.09 billion), the slowest growth rate in the index's nine-year history. [ID:nLH662425]

"I've always outperformed them (the IMRG figures), that's the thing," Robertson told Reuters.

"What it's showing is that for a period of time at least it (the industry) has started to slow, but that's as likely to go up again as it is to go down again," he said.

Shares in ASOS, which have increased in value by 52 percent over the last six months, were down 4 percent at 365.5 pence at 0733 GMT, valuing the business at 265 million pounds.

"As the market's positive view towards cyclicals potentially begins to falter we believe genuine growth businesses will find favour again, including ASOS as it moves towards becoming a more global business," said analysts at Singer Capital Markets.  Continued...

 

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