ASOS completes Atlanta fulfilment centre disposal for £48m

ASOS has completed the disposal of its Atlanta fulfilment centre and associated automation assets, with net proceeds of £48 million and annual cash savings of around £6 million, related to rent and other occupancy costs at the Atlanta site.

The lease for the fulfilment centre has been taken over by an unspecified "global consumer brand", while a member of the DHL Group is buying the automation assets.

ASOS added that as the Atlanta site was non-operational and had been fully written down in prior periods, a one-off pre-tax profit of approximately £78 million has been generated, which ASOS said will be recognised as an adjusting item in its FY26 results. 

In January 2025, ASOS had first announced that it was planning to mothball the Atlanta distribution centre and move US order fulfilment to its Barnsley, South Yorkshire warehouse, together with a smaller, more flexible local US site.

It said then that the change would give US customers a wider assortment and quicker speed to market while cutting the fulfilment cost per order.

ASOS estimated the warehouse changes would add £10-20 million to pre-tax earnings from 2025-26, although the move led to a £190 million impairment in 2024-25.

José Antonio Ramos Calamonte, CEO of ASOS, said the disposal was "another clear demonstration of us delivering on our commitments, strengthening the balance sheet, simplifying the business and maintaining strict discipline in how we allocate capital".

Calamonte added that after the Atlanta centre was closed, ASOS had moved onto its new US operating model, which gives customers access to a broader assortment drawn from global inventory.

"The strength of customer engagement gives us confidence in this approach," he said.

ASOS said the net proceeds will stay on the balance sheet to preserve financial flexibility as the company executes its strategy.

The retailer, which has 17 million active customers across more than 100 markets, has been working through a broader turnaround under Calamonte, which has seen it significantly reduce its operating losses for the six months ending 1 March 2026, narrowing them by 52% to £100.9 million, despite a decline in overall revenue.

The online retailer said that operational efficiency improvements played a central role in the cost reduction. Supply chain costs declined due to warehouse optimisation and renegotiated logistics contracts, continuing a multi-year trend of efficiency gains.

Its continued efforts to incase efficiency also saw ASOS sell its 437,000 sq ft site warehouse site in Lichfield in May, to retailer M&S. ASOS had mothballed the site in 2023 under an overhaul to reduce its stock and costs and improve profitability.

M&S said the Lichfield site will add capacity and allow it to process orders quickly, helping it achieve the group’s long-term target to double the size of its online fashion, home and beauty business.